


Chiaroscuro

by Ausp_ice, Grumpy_Old_Snake



Series: Of Soul and Void and Shadow and Light [1]
Category: Hollow Knight (Video Game), Original Work
Genre: Abime Spire, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Extradimensional Beings, Fanart, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Illustrated, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Magic, Major Character Injury, RP log, Random Lore, Self-Injurious Stimming
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-12
Updated: 2020-02-15
Packaged: 2020-08-13 04:00:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 26,826
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20167798
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ausp_ice/pseuds/Ausp_ice, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Grumpy_Old_Snake/pseuds/Grumpy_Old_Snake
Summary: The young vessel Elk and their companion, the void construct known as Wiki, meet Linast and Phosa, visitors from another world. But following the newcomers in their entry to Hallownest is a force of creatures beyond anything they’d have expected…_An RP log that has been edited for clarity and flow. RP is between @elk-and-thearchivist and @justashadetalkative on Tumblr! Additional tags to be added as they become relevant.





	1. Riven

**Author's Note:**

> Greetings! This is a roleplay log between Auspice and Gossy, cross-posted from Tumblr! I just like the organization options on AO3.
> 
> Auspice: Characters are Elk and Wiki, RP/Art/Ask/HK fandom blog is [@elk-and-thearchivist](https://elk-and-thearchivist.tumblr.com/)
> 
> Gossy: Characters are Linast and Phosa from the RP blog [@justashadetalkative](https://justashadetalkative.tumblr.com/)
> 
> Regular is Gossy, gray text is Auspice. Use the "hide/show creator's style" button up at the top to toggle the text colors on and off, if you would rather have all text black and undifferentiated.
> 
> Horizontal lines are POV shifts.  
All main chapter artworks are collabs between the two of us! Extra artworks may not be so.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Visitors from another world arrive in Hallownest, but they're followed by others with far less friendly dispositions.

* * *

Something was wrong.

That was about all that Linast had the time or awareness to think when the teleportation spell that should have felt like a long moment of free fall suddenly turned crushing and still. Then something reached deep into his core and _yanked_. Instead of landing safely and quietly back at the Spire, he found himself returning to normal space with a boom that rattled through his core and echoed resoundingly in his new surroundings.

New, _enclosed_ surroundings, with rapidly approaching walls.

Linast squeaked and tried to reorient himself, wrapping around his core in an attempt to slow himself down before the impact. Even with that effort he still hit the wall with a jarring _crack_. His core rebounded off the stone and rolled several meters along the ground before coming to a stop against an outcrop.

For a long moment, he wasn’t aware of much beyond the white static of the impact. Linast indulged in a low, pained whine as he gradually reformed his body.

Then he forced himself up onto his knees to take in his surroundings. If the teleportation had gone _that_ badly wrong, it was entirely possible that someone hostile had interfered—and that they were nearby.

* * *

At last, they’d finally managed to convince Elk to find an animated husk to read! Usually, they stuck to the ones that had already faded, but the information from those was always so scattered and sparse. Flashes of old memories. Of dreams.

They found a lone husk wandering in a more cavernous area of Greenpath - waited at higher ground, and when it came near they pushed some rocks over the edge, trapping it. They slithered down the wall, and Wiki emerged from Elk to begin probing the husk’s mind. They placed a tendril on the bug’s head and closed their eyes.

Elk watched Wiki as they read the husk’s memories. They tended to not be responsive to anything while they did such a thing, but when it came down to it Elk could usually grab them and run.

But they definitely weren’t prepared for a sudden _crack_ and flash, and for an indistinct form to fly away from the source and impact the wall.

The husk’s eyes suddenly burned with light once more, and it lashed out. Elk pulled Wiki out of the way, and the husk ran off.

Wiki blinked rapidly. “What… ugh. I need a moment…” They sunk into Elk’s void, going quiet in their mind.

Elk patted themself, then got up and looked around- spotting a shadowy form not so far away.

* * *

Looking around, Linast found that the space around him was fairly large. Which was lucky, he decided with a wince as he gingerly probed the damage to his core and felt a shard of himself shift and fall away. If it had been much smaller, he wouldn’t have had the time to slow down at all.

It was certainly a pretty place. A gentle green light suffused the air, with brighter beams of light occasionally breaking through the cavern roof and lighting up the ground below. There was greenery _everywhere_, growing up in heaps from the cavern floor and spilling down from the walls and roof.

And… there was also a person. Linast had thought he might have heard a scuffle and a voice, when he’d been lying dazed on the ground, but now that he’d hauled himself upright he only saw the one figure.

They were small—smaller even than him, looked like. They had a white, skull-like head with graceful curved horns, and a grey cloak that fell around them in loose layers. Their body was darker than it should have been, even in this relatively dim cavern. The empty hollows of their eyes didn’t reflect any light at all, and occasional wisps of shadow rose from their cloak and drifted from their eyes in gentle patterns.

They were looking around the cavern, and it didn’t take them long to spot him in turn. Linast tensed. They didn’t seem to have been expecting him, and they didn’t look aggressive, but… well, he _really_ wasn’t in any shape for a fight after that crash. That vulnerability made him nervous.

“I don’t, ah… ss-suppose you know my language?” he tried, with a strained smile and a small wave.

They gave a small jerk and leaped into some nearby bushes. Linast relaxed considerably, for all that he felt bad to see them afraid of him. It was nice to know he wasn’t the only one feeling jumpy, at least.

Only a ten or so seconds later, they peered out the side of the bush, pale horns inching out bit by bit. After a bit of staring, they stuck an arm out of their cloak, giving a hesitant wave.

Linast smiled again, a bit more genuinely. It seemed that waving had been a good idea, though whether it was because they’d recognized the gesture or because they were simply willing to copy him, he couldn’t say.

“Heh. Hi there. I’m not going to hurt you, promise,” he said, watching them carefully to see what their next move would be. “…As long as you don’t hurt me, anyway.”

They tilted their head as they listened to him, a hand on their chin. Looking around a bit more and seeing no sign of other trouble, they methodically extricated themself from the bush - one leg out, then the other, then the rest of their body.

They walked a little closer, stopping about two arm’s lengths away, and tilted their head back to peer at him - rather, their eyes, or the darkness where they should be, seemed to focus on his core before moving to his face.

Linast frowned and raised a hand to press against his damaged core as he noticed the little creature focusing on it, instinctively wrapping it in a darker layer of shadow until the red was hardly visible between his ribs. He managed to pull the smile back up when they focused on his face, but it was a bit strained again. “That, uh, yeah. That’s me,” he said. He waited a moment, then gestured to his chest with a bit more active intent. “Linast.”

Linast took a moment to study them in turn as they tilted their head at his words. From this close, one could see that their body was a pitch black exoskeleton, as those of bugs, but it hardly seemed to reflect any light at all. The wisps from earlier seemed to have ceased entirely.

He’d been right, they definitely weren’t interacting with light quite normally. Visible or otherwise. He could hardly even feel any infrared from them, which… wasn’t exactly how normal matter worked.

He gestured to them with a similar motion to the one he’d used for himself. “Do you have a name?” He doubted they could understand his words, but a friendly tone of voice wouldn’t hurt anything, assuming they could hear him. They hadn’t made a sound so far, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t. Or perhaps they could sign. It made him feel better to at least try to ask, at any rate.

They jerked their head back up in surprise at his gesture. They put a hand on their chin again, and looked back up. They seemed to be struggling with something, moving minutely, without making a sound. Linast watched sympathetically as they struggled; it almost seemed like they were indeed trying to make sound, but without much success.

After a bit, they scuffed the dirt and hung their head - as if giving a silent sigh. They glanced around, spotting a twig - they tapped their chin in thought, before giving a shrug and picking it up.

They started scribbling something in the dirt.

There were… symbols of some sort. One could only assume it was a form of writing. Linast brightened up as he realized what they were doing. “Oh! I—didn’t even think of that,” he said, smiling in excitement.

He leaned forward as they stepped back again, biting back a hiss of pain as the motion shifted his core, and studied the symbols. Reaching out, he filled the tracks in the dirt with his shadows, feeling the shape of them and doing his best to fix it in his mind.

Their gaze fixated on the shadowy symbols as they formed, the tilt of their head following the threads of darkness coalesce.

Looking up, Linast repeated his previous gesture towards them. This time, though, he spread his other hand out as well, leaving new shadowy symbols hanging in the air above that hand. He smiled again. “Is that you, then?”

It still wasn’t clear whether they could understand the words, but they at least seemed to understand a bit of what he was trying to say. They clapped their hands together once and jumped excitedly upon seeing the symbols in the air.

Linast gave a pleased hum, relieved he'd gotten them right. It would take more to truly memorize the symbols, but his short term memory had always been good, especially for shapes. They had time; he could learn.

Or not.

Linast’s head shot up as a low, nearly subsonic rumble sounded out, and his eyes widened as glowing white lines sliced into existence in the air behind his new acquaintance. One, two, four… nine. White-yellow claws pushed through and began to tug the slits into wider openings with an unearthly screech.

Linast's company startled and looked around at the sound. Once they saw the slits, and the claws that emerged from them, they froze.

“Shit,” Linast hissed, and shot to his feet. He promptly staggered as his senses whited out with pain, and just barely managed to catch himself on the stone column that his core had come to rest against earlier. “_S̨hi̛ţ,_” he repeated, more emphatically.

His company looked at him, leaning on the column, and wavered a bit before they grabbed Linast’s hand with one arm and rapidly patted him with their other. Linast startled at the unexpected contact, spikes rippling up across his shoulders and his hand twitching in their grasp as he squinted down at them. “_Gah,_ don’t s͟-şs͠҉̛ş̵—" He broke off as they gestured towards an area deeper into the greenery, tugging him lightly in that direction. "Oh.”

Linast straightened, released his death grip on the column to brace that hand against his core instead, and forced his legs to hold steady and not flicker out on him again. “Yeah, I—yeah, running is, running is good, I think,” he muttered, starting forward in the direction they’d indicated.

Their grip was surprisingly strong despite their small frame, pulling him along at a sure-footed pace. As he was tugged along by the hand, Linast chanced a quick look back towards where the rifts were opening. Nothing had come through yet, but it was only a matter of time. He watched as an arm forced its way through one rift, a brightly glowing eye visible through the rift above it.

Linast picked up the pace, hurrying after his silent guide as quickly as he could manage. It didn't take long for the rifts to be completely obscured by foliage.

As they emerged from the deep greenery, intricate structures overgrown by vines and leaves came into sight. The sound of sizzling filled the air, emanating from a glowing, bubbling lake underneath. In the shadows within the structure, glowing bugs fluttered inside glass lamps.

“Oh that looks s-safe,” Linast muttered, eyeing the lake. He stumbled with a wince as his guide slowed down while he was distracted, and turned his attention back to them.

They pointed to what looked like a relatively climbable region - parts of the wall had crumbled and the remains were woven with nature - and then to the roof of the structure.

“Up there?” Normally he’d just teleport up. But that wasn’t really an option with his core in the state that it was. He sighed with a staticky rush of sound, and gave their hand a gentle squeeze before phasing himself free of their grip. “Okay.”

Linast started the climb. He let go of his humanoid form, paying more attention to making sure that he found solid grips and didn’t jostle his core again than to the shape of his limbs or how many he had manifested at any one point. It was only once he’d reached the top and retreated from the edge that he reformed his more typical shape and looked around to see how they were faring.

Their head was pulled back a bit, hand resting on their chin. Despite the lack of facial expression, they looked surprised - possibly at his changes in form. But they simply lifted a shoulder under their cloak, a sort of half shrug, before bounding up the rocks with a confidence that suggested they’ve done this many times already.

Upon reaching the top, they gave a scanning look back where they came. Seeing nothing of note, they pointed to the center of the structure they were on. There were the remains of some pillars, evidence of a terrace of some sort, but little remained that wasn’t covered in green. At the very least, the structures and vegetation would serve well to hide them from plain sight - if their otherworldly foes navigated by that sense.

Linast obediently started towards the pillars they had indicated as barks and yips began to sound out from the open area they had just fled from. He trusted this local to know the best place to hide nearby, and he knew that he was in no shape to move quickly. Hiding now while none of the creatures had them in their direct sight was far better than continuing to flee and waiting for them to inevitably catch up.

Still… they _really_ hadn’t gone very far, and there had been at least one eye peering out of the rifts at them as they’d first entered the greenery. As they entered the hiding space and crouched down within its shelter, Linast probed at the edges of his range, testing how far his magic extended.

It would be a bit of a strain, but he could do it. Hopefully. His mind made up, Linast carefully removed his core from his chest and set it on the ground, then gestured to get the local’s attention. He pointed to his core, still wrapped thoroughly in his shadows. “That’s me,” he whispered, looking at them intently. “Linast.”

Then he gestured to his body and shrugged, playing up an unconcerned expression. “This? Not… _quite _so much.” He let his body flicker out of existence entirely in demonstration, then reformed with a bit of an effort and offered them a reassuring smile. “Okay?”

The sounds of pursuit were actually approaching them now. Linast would just have to hope he’d gotten his point across; he needed to get back down before they were in sight of the structure, or this wouldn’t be very convincing. Linast let his body dissolve and reformed it down on the path below, hunched on the ground as if he’d fallen and been left behind before he could recover. 

* * *

Elk watched “Linast” - at least, they’re fairly sure that’s what the mysterious being called themself - begin approaching, but jumped a bit at the sounds of their pursuers. They took a few steps backwards into the shadows, hoping they could hide…

Their attention was drawn to Linast as they gestured to Elk. The being pointed to an object wrapped in the same darkness they seemed to be made of, likely the red sphere Linast seemed uncomfortable about exposing earlier. They said a few words, “Linast” being one of them, while pointing at the sphere. If Elk had their voice, they would have hummed in thought. Was that the center of the being’s existence?

This thought seemed to be confirmed as Linast gestured to their body and shrugged, before vanishing - Elk drew up a bit at that - and reforming.

At once, they vanished once more. Elk ran up to where they last stood, next to the shadow-enclosed sphere, bringing them closer to the edge of the roof. They heard a sound below, and they surreptitiously peered over the edge. Linast - or their projection or what have you - was hunched over. Glancing towards where they came, Elk saw the otherworldly creatures approaching, and quickly retreated from the edge—

—just as the approaching off-white glow of the otherworldly invaders resolved into two quadrupedal creatures and a third bipedal creature pushing through the foliage.

They let out excited calls, presumably at the sight of Linast’s figure below. It was answered by a single word in Linast’s voice, the same from earlier which—by sheer context clues and vocal tone—was presumably a curse word. A general commotion of yips and growls from the creatures, a steady stream of cursing from Linast, and running feet from all passed through the structure below Elk’s hiding space and out the other side, further into the foliage beyond.

They’d have to assume the being would fine. Hopefully their interpretation was correct.

A familiar presence stirred in their mind.

“Oh̶̆…a̷̳͘w̶͈̏a̷͂͜k̴e̴?” Elk tested their voice. It was still quiet and distorted - Wiki’s presence of mind was only a vague curiosity of the situation.

They looked back at the sphere for a moment. And then gave it a gentle poke.

At first, they encountered only a vague resistance to their poke; nothing solid, but there was a tangible presence to the shadow. It wasn’t enough to interrupt their poke entirely, and the end of the motion touched on something solid and cool, almost glassy.

As soon as they made contact with that, the shadows around the sphere abruptly darkened and shoved Elk’s finger back with a firm force. What had once visibly been a sphere, darkened as it was by the shadows wrapped around it, was now coated in a darkness so deep that it looked more like a circular hole cut out of the world than it did something three dimensional.

They pulled back immediately. Looks like they didn’t like that.

_One does usually not like their most vulnerable spot prodded at,_ Wiki commented.

Elk sighed. They knew that, obviously. They wondered if Linast would come back soon - in the worst case, they might be like this for a while.

“You wouldn’t happen to know what kind of creature they are, would you?" they asked. "Are they… like us?”

_Hmm………_

“Well… guess I’ll bring this over to the terrace thing…”

Maybe if they… a little more gently…

Now that Wiki was kind of awake, their body was a little more mutable. They extended two of the tendrils emerging from their body, using them to lift the orb of darkness and bring it to the shadowed terrace.

The darkness gave a brief twitch as it was moved, but otherwise remained inert. It was still a solid enough barrier that Elk felt none of the glassy object.

Distantly, the shouts and barks of pursuit devolved into the sound of what might have been fighting; yelps and, at one point, the sound of breaking stone. But things soon calmed down again, and nothing seemed to be loud enough to be heard through the foliage.

A minute or two passed before Linast slowly reformed near the orb they had left behind. They were shivering noticeably, and their body seemed to be fading or warping in places only to pull back into shape moments later. 

Elk stood from the stone ledge they were sitting upon as soon as Linast began to reform. What a relief that they’re alright!

Linast's gaze darted around warily for a moment, but they relaxed when they caught site of Elk. They let out a soft, relieved sounding laugh, shaking their head and mumbling something to themself. Their androgynous voice hissed and stuttered slightly worse than it had before, but they seemed to be recovering quickly enough, and their body was stabilizing as well.

Their eyes narrowed slightly as they caught sight of the tendrils emerging from Elk’s body. They gestured to them with an uncertain noise, head tilting to the side.

Elk looked down to their body, and - oh, right.

They gestured to the tendrils. “Wiki.” They then pointed to their mask. “Elk.” They made a broad, vague gesture. “They were asleep until now… er…”

Linast’s eyes widened as Elk began to speak, and they let out a surprised murmur.

“This is very inefficient.” Wiki emerged from their body smoothly, tendrils spilling onto the stone as more motes of absolute darkness filled the air. Wiki remained connected to Elk via a few strands of void - they preferred keeping their voice when they could. Said voice was the same as theirs - sounding almost feminine, but distorted and not a sound any bug would produce - only with vastly different mannerisms.

Linast flinched as Wiki emerged, snatching their core and retreating back against a pillar with another unsteady flicker in their shape and a choked noise of pain. But when Wiki didn’t make any aggressive movements, they soon calmed. With wary motions they shifted forward onto their knees to study the pair with a thoughtful hum.

They gestured towards Elk using the same shadow-symbol trick as before—_Elk—_and said it aloud at the same time with a curious tilt to their head; “Elk?”

They spoke a few unintelligible words as they gestured to Wiki and tried out their name as well; “Wiki?”

Elk nodded vigorously as Linast formed their name with shadows again. Wiki gave a sort of bow as their name was stated - theatric, as they were.

Linast smiled at the pair, though their expression had an almost sad edge now as they settled one of their hands on their core. They spoke briefly again, mentioning Elk and Wiki’s names as well as their own.

Elk and Wiki looked at each other. “I can try probing their mind, if they’ll allow it.”

“If they’re okay with it, that would be nice…” Elk fidgeted with their cloak. Wiki could easily learn their language, but some bugs had found their process of learning a little intrusive.

Wiki separated from Elk, leaving a few connected tendrils as they approached Linast. “Linast,” they dipped their head, “will you allow me entry?” They extended a tendril to Linast's hand - usually, extremities were sufficient for a declaration of intent.

For a moment, Linast looked hesitant at the approaching contact, but they soon seemed to steel their nerves. They reached out and gently gripped Wiki’s outstretched tendril.

Upon contact, Wiki gave a questioning prod to the mind within. A request for entry to a brief skim of their mind.

Linast's expression pinched and they let out a soft, unhappy whine at the mental probe—not as a bug would whine, but a melodious, inorganic sound. Linast clearly wasn’t thrilled with the prospect, but… they seemed more resigned than surprised.

They grimaced, muttered a few bitter-sounding words, and gave a mental assent—and something that felt almost like an apology for their reluctance.

Elk could feel Wiki's curiosity as they pressed into the being's mind. They mentally prodded Wiki, who halfheartedly withdrew from the pull of observation. They placed another tendril on the being's head—not that it seemed to make much of a difference, the mental presence felt about the same.

Wiki slid past the being's pain and exhaustion, sending a ping of commiseration. They would find a place to rest afterwards.

Elk felt the knowledge filter in. He (for he was indeed a he, that was made clear) had more than one language. Two, it seemed? A bit entangled, and difficult to parse. One seemed to be... light based? But this spoken language seemed simple enough - Wiki archived all the necessary knowledge of the language in moments. There were a few holes in the lingual entanglements, but for their purposes it was more than enough.

As Wiki passed over Linast's memories they noticed that there weren't as many as they expected. _A little more than a decade, perhaps,_ Wiki murmured in their shared mind. _But he seems rather developed for that amount of time... perhaps he is..._

_A construct...? _There certainly seemed to be evidence of some tampering. Echoes of another presence, though of what nature they could not construe from their survey.

Wiki retreated from his mind, pulling back both physically and mentally. "Linast." Wiki spoke slowly at first, as if testing the syllables, but quickly grew in confidence and precision. "Forgive my intrusion. This was the most effective way to ensure proper communication."

Linast huffed, not quite a laugh, and offered a tired smile. “I understand. I’m used to it. But thank you for the apology—for thinking about it, I mean.”

He leaned back against the pillar, drawing his knees up to his chest. “It’s nice to be able to talk. We’re lucky you can do that. So, thank you.”

His gaze drifted to Elk, following the void tendrils still connecting the pair together.

“Can they understand me now, too?” he asked, then seemed to hesitate. “And is ‘they’ right? He, she? Maybe there isn’t anything right in English, but if you do use, ah—pronouns, that way, I can learn yours. Or you can pick English ones. Or I can talk around it and not use any, s-ssome people prefer that.”

"Both Elk and I have no gender. ‘They’ will do.” Their gaze shifted to Elk. They were shifting their head back and forth in thought. “It’ll take just a moment! They’re not as fast a learner as as me.”

“Hey,” Elk objected, still speaking their own language. They took another moment to sort through the sudden influx of information in their joined minds, before attempting Linast’s language. “I can learn just fine.”

They turned to look at Linast and bounded closer in a few steps. “I’m glad we can finally talk! Are you okay? What are those things, where are you from?”

Linast chuckled at Elk’s protests, then blinked at the rapid barrage of questions. “I’m glad, too. Ah… I’m… not really okay, no. I don’t feel like we’re getting worse, so that’s good. But we’re pretty hurt, and I think my s-ssibling took the worst of it. She isn’t waking up.”

He looked almost lost, for a moment. Then he shook it off and threw a wary glance back to the entrance of the shadowed terrace as if checking for the glowing creature’s presence. “I don’t know what those are, I’ve never seen them. I don’t know if they’re after me, or if they’re after my home, or if they just followed me to get to _here_, or what. It all happened pretty quickly…”

“And what, if I may ask, are you? You seem… vaguely similar to us in composition.” Wiki peered at him.

Linast hesitated at Wiki's question; he looked uncomfortable with it. But he gently pulled out the orb from before and placed it on the ground between them. The shadows that had been wrapped around it fell away, leaving behind a glassy red sphere with intricately whorled patterns across its surface. It was damaged on one side, a spiderwebbing network of cracks and splintered edges marring its surface.

“I’m a construct. My creator was trying to... to make shadow elementals, and… he made this. Us—my sibling and I. You, ah, heh. You do look a lot like me. It’s kind of neat.” His head tilted, returning Wiki’s scrutiny. “Can I… ask what you are, too? And, ah—where we are?”

Both were silent for a moment. Wiki spoke first. “We are constructs of an essence known as Void. We are an eternal darkness, separated from our unity by the work overseen by the former ruler of this kingdom known as Hallownest.”

Wiki laid a tendril across Elk’s head. “Elk is one of many, many siblings. 'Vessels’ made for the sake of finding the most pure to contain an ancient threat to the kingdom, the rest… discarded. They were made, with…” Wiki’s gaze seemed to grow distant, as if seeing something elsewhere.

Elk spoke, but it was unclear - they transitioned smoothly. “No mind to think. No will to break. No voice to cry suffering…”

Wiki spoke once more. “But he was wrong. They are not empty. And the one chosen was not either. The kingdom is in ruin. Nature cannot be fought. As for me?” They extended all their arms away from them. “I am The Archivist. It must be why I was made, as I cannot resist the call of knowledge. Why I cannot forget anything. Why I can learn everything.”

They pressed a tendril to their own head, now. “I… seem to remember snippets of memories about my creator. But I lose focus when I try to recall it…”

Linast listened quietly—more or less. His posture grew more and more tense throughout the pair’s explanation, spikes growing up along his shoulders. He gave a low, furious hiss as Elk spoke their own part. By the end of things he was fairly vibrating in place, one hand dropped to the ground and his fingers clawing at—no, _through_ the stone of the structure, actually, leaving behind deep score marks and a loose drift of rock dust. “I _hate _that things like this… H̢̢h̛̛͠hh̨͘ş̷s̡͞_s̶҉̡͟͞h͢͏h̵͜h̶i͏͜t̸̢_.̡.”

Linast fell silent, closing his eyes. His form flickered, the spikes fading away. But while he did look more in control of himself, he didn’t look any less tense—or less furious. “…I didn’t meet my creator for… years. It sounds like… you haven’t met yours at all, Wiki, and don’t—have any records, either. How did you learn about Elk’s—h͟͟҉̷h̸̛҉h̸n͡.̛͏ . “_Purpose_”?

Elk looked down, fidgeting as Wiki answered. “There were records of the… plan in the place I awoke. The Teacher’s Archives, it was called. Encoded, as most things were within. And some residents of the fallen kingdom, alive or dead or infected with the light that brought ruin to them, have a wealth of information that I partook of. The plan was… folly. Sacrificing not only the siblings. Three were sealed into sleep for eternity. And all for naught! It has failed.”

Linast gave a tense hum, a low synthetic sound that seemed to come from more than just his throat. “…Okay. Okay. Ss-so that’s… where we’re at, then. Fallen kingdom of Hallownest, a lot of people dead or infected with—light?—and… a lot of extra people _made_ and turned into... into casualties, too.”

He made a sighing sound, and some of the remaining tension drained from his shoulders.. “…Cheery place.” Linast’s eyes finally opened, and he frowned as he gave Wiki and Elk a brief look-over.

“…Are you two okay?” he asked. “Some of that was… Elk, you sounded a bit—scripted, almost. Automatic, or… echoing something. And you looked like you were drifting a bit, Wiki. I’m—sorry if I triggered anything bad.”

Elk gave their body a quick shake. “It’s what he always said. It’s… from… a while ago. It’s ok.”

Wiki sighed a bit. “There is nothing but tragedy in the old kingdom, and we happened to be in that crossfire. But there is still much knowledge to acquire! So, enough of that.” They drew closer to the sphere, inspecting the cracks. “That doesn’t look good. Perhaps we can try bringing you to a hot spring. The soul - the life energy, if you will - within the spring may help.”

Elk hopped forward, also peering at the sphere. “You mentioned… a sibling? Are you together, like us? In this?”

“Yeah,” Linast confirmed. “It’s—the core of both of us, the magic that makes us. My sibling—her name is Phosa—she can… range, a bit further than I can? She’s kind of… made by the light that I absorb, since I can’t access it myself, and… it s-seems to have enough substance of its own to keep her going for a while even when she’s not near our core. But I have to stay pretty close to it, I can’t… or, I _normally_ can’t do anything outside of the range of its magic.”

He hummed again, fingers tapping the ground. “It might be different here, though? I managed to go a lot further than I expected, when I made that diversion earlier. Usually it takes me a few weeks in a world to spread my range out that far. Maybe that… void you mentioned has something to do with it. You guys exist on your own, right? If darkness has its own ssubstance here… I dunno.”

Linast shrugged. “But, that hot spring you mentioned might at least be worth a shot. I’m… pretty worried. Normally _I’m_ the one passed out or not thinking straight, when our core gets this damaged.”

“Fascinating…” Wiki murmured. “If you are not opposed, I would love to learn much more about you two. But for now - your state is concerning. Though if she is truly of light as you say, the light of soul may help considerably.”

“There are some hot springs pretty close! Um…” They gazed blankly into the distance, pulling up their mental map. “We’re in Greenpath right now, which is close to The Crossroads. There’s a spring there.” Elk peered over the edge. “Looks like you led those creatures away from the place we need to go, luckily. We probably have some time.”

“Yes, that is good. Neither Elk or I are that good at combat. But we are very good at running away!” Wiki laughed a distorted little laugh.

Linast smiled a bit at Wiki’s laugh, but quickly sobered again. “If they do catch up to us, I won’t let them hurt you,” he said. The statement had the finality of a promise.

He followed Elk’s gaze off the edge of the structure. “We should probably leave now while it’s quiet, then,” he added, and gingerly picked his core back up to return it to his chest. “I don’t feel great about staying so close to their entry point. I’m _sure_ that I s-ssaw more rifts than I’ve seen creatures.”

If Elk could have smiled at Linast, they would have. They settled for lowering their head in gratitude. “Thanks, Linast…”

“Indeed. Your assistance would be appreciated.” Wiki nodded, before returning completely to Elk’s body. “Let us depart! I agree that we shouldn’t stay near. If more will come, then…”

Elk gave a nervous laugh. “Yeah, let’s try to avoid that?” They made their way back to the ledge and began climbing down - a lot more easily with Wiki’s help. “Come on, I know the way.”

Linast chuckled weakly. “Yeah, I, uh. Avoidance is definitely what I’d prefer.” He stood with careful movements and began picking his way down the ledge after the pair. “I’m right behind you.”


	2. Respite

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Elk and Wiki guide an injured Linast to the hot springs of the Crossroads, where they manage to get a brief respite before Linast’s sibling Phosa makes an appearance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the second chapter! 
> 
> For this chapter's main artwork, Gossy did the sketch/composition and shading/lighting/effects, and Auspice did the lines, flats, and background.  
Additional scene sketches are by Gossy!
> 
> Auspice: Elk and Wiki ([@elk-and-thearchivist](https://elk-and-thearchivist.tumblr.com/))
> 
> Gossy: Linast and Phosa ([@justashadetalkative](https://justashadetalkative.tumblr.com/))

* * *

They carefully made their way through Greenpath, following Elk's lead through the greenery, acid, husks. They managed to avoid contact with any of the infected bugs - Elk seemed to know the best path to take to avoid them.

Before long, the life of Greenpath faded, replaced darkness and stone. Their steps echoed in the silence of the caverns.

Linast was beginning to wonder whether he'd been wrong earlier when he'd claimed not to be getting worse; a sour, unsettled feeling of something being badly out of place had begun to build in his core during the journey. There wasn't much he could do about it, though, so for now he was doing his best to ignore the sensation.

Linast looked around their new surroundings, listening carefully. He spread his awareness to see if he could pick up any out-of-place light, be it the glowing otherworldly creatures or the sickly orange light he'd gotten brief glimpses of in the infected bugs Elk had been carefully leading them around.

For the moment, at least, he found nothing but the occasional lantern and glowing plant. He steadied his form from where it had begun to drift in his distraction, and caught back up with the others.

"Do you ever go to the surface?" Linast questioned quietly, deciding it was probably safe to risk some conversation. He could honestly use the distraction. "Is it even nearby? I couldn't... quite tell if that was sunlight filtering through in Greenpath, or ssomething else."

"Sometimes. It's fairly close to here, actually, if you'd like to see. There's a little town that's been miraculously untouched by the plague." Wiki - one could tell if they paid attention to the mannerism of their voice - replied. "The light in Greenpath was likely dreamed by the higher being residing there. She is still revered by her creations, lost as they are to a different light. I can feel her traces in the minds of her subjects."

“I'd like that, yeah,” Linast said. “It’d be nn-nice to explore a bit of your world while I’m here, especially if there are more people living up there. And, ah, we might want to warn them to keep their guard up?”

“Mm, yes…” Elk turned to look at him. "Hey, are you feeling okay? Relatively. We're almost there, but if you need a break or anything?

Linast blinked as Elk turned to him, and looked up from where he’d been keeping a close eye on where he put his feet. He hesitated. A break sounded wonderful, honestly; he was exhausted and hurting and between the two his hold on his form was getting shakier by the minute. But the kind of break Linast was longing for was to turn responsibility over to Phosa for a while, and, well. That wasn’t really an option, was it?

“...I’m feeling a bit weird,” he admitted, because at least that part of things was new. “Sick, almost..? But, um. I’m not sure that a break would help. With--that. It’s not how I feel when I’m tired. S-sso if we’re close, we should probably just keep going. Thank you, though.”

"Sounds like a plan. We'll go after the springs." They cocked their head to the side. "That... doesn't sound good, though. Let's hurry - we can lend you a hand. We're stronger than we look." Elk, or Wiki, or them together, extended a tendril, as if giving them a hand to take.

For once, Linast didn't find himself hesitating at the idea of physical contact. He moved forward and took their offered tendril, leaning on them for balance as they began to move forward once more.

"Thank you," he said, trying to still some of his form's unsteady shivering now that slightly less of his attention was being eaten up by the mechanics of walking.

"For--I mean, this, but in general, really. I'm s-sorry to be dragging you into whatever's going on, but we... would have been in a pretty big mess already, without your help."

"It's alright. We don't mind." They helped pull him over some steeper rocks. "Besides, all we- all I ever wanted was to learn new things."

"Wiki wants to know everything. I think I'm happy with tagging along." They crested over an almost vertical drop. "I just like to explore."

“I like exploring too,” Linast said, his voice distorting slightly as he climbed with their help. “And learning. Pretty good, ah, life goals, if you ask me…”

They pulled up Linast, shifting to the side once he made it up the drop. Beyond them was a cavern emanating a soft, pale light, brimming with energy. "We're here."

He took a moment to rest, staying kneeling on the ground until he felt more certain he wouldn’t fall if he tried to stand. He squinted forward at the softly glowing cavern. “That… is a _ weird _fucking light spectrum,” he muttered.

Except it wasn’t, really; the light mostly just covered a wide range of the human-visible spectrum, gentle and white. There certainly wasn’t any biologically harmful radiation that he could feel. It was just that he could feel some other sort of energy, or magic, or… _ something. _ And even though he couldn’t _ recognize it _, something instinctive in him still insisted that it was light.

Linast pushed himself to his feet. “What did you say this sstuff was, again?”

"Soul, we call it. It is the energy that animates all bugs. The old king was a higher being of this light, using his power to animate fragments of Void for whatever purposes he wished."

They walked closer to the spring. "The King called us 'the power opposed,' that which consumes the light. But, then again... we are both. So we can, theoretically, use the power of both."

"Hopefully, it can heal you and your sibling."

“Huh. I’ve… never heard of something like that with, ah, aphysical form, like this.” Felidaen’s energy was the closest Linast could think of, an animating, creationary magic with a distinct light of its own. But even then, the stuff was more like electricity. It certainly wouldn’t ever pool like this.

He walked with them to the spring and knelt again, peering at it closely and forcing his form to hold steady against the sting of the visible light on his shadows. The actual energy of the ‘soul’—the not-light that he felt emanating from the pool—didn’t sting at all, which was a good sign. The sensation reminded Linast of Phosa herself. The twisted feeling in their core was getting worse, though, which was… less great.

“S-sso, how does this normally work? I’m guessing it heals you, or other, ah—bugs, or you wouldn’t have thought of it…?”

"If we are injured, or tired, we usually rest within it." They dip their toe in the water, before sinking into the water. To anyone who could sense the energy, it seemed to suffuse their entire body, sinking into the void of their body. They gave a soft sigh as they sunk into the water, mask partially submerged. "More bugs used to come, when it wasn't as dangerous. It truly fills you with energy."

They looked over to Linast. "Since we're uncertain how it could affect you, you could try dipping a finger first? Or splashing some onto your core. If it helps..."

“That’s probably a good idea,” Linast agreed, smiling slightly at them as they made themselves comfortable. He pulled the core out of his chest and set it on the ground beside himself. “I’m, um—you’re right, this stuff feels like light, it’s probably going to agree with Phosa way more than with me. Just as a... heads up. But I’d still rather—my magic’s still lower risk than our core, to start, so...”

Gingerly, Linast stretched out a hand and let the tips of his fingers sink into the hot spring.

Several things happened at once. Linast let out a quiet, strangled sound as their core gave a dizzying lurch and the sickly wrong-feeling drastically intensified, heat flooding through it. His hand went entirely numb, abruptly flickering out of shape along with the rest of his form. And light flared outwards from their core, shining brightly from the cracks.

Elk immediately jumped up, tendrils flaring from under their cloak. _ "Linast! _ Are you alright?" They reached towards him, just as the light flared and they jerked back, an arm raised defensively. "What-" They lowered their arm, peering past it to see what had just happened.

There wasn’t much for Elk to see at first, aside from the slowly dimming light leaking from the cracks in their core. Linast had dissipated entirely with the flash.

“Fine, m’fine,” Linast rasped after a long moment, forming enough of a pool of shadow beneath his core to speak but not much else. “Just... hnn. Fuck. Probably should’ve... I’m fine. Not hurt. Just need a minute.”

It wasn’t a lie, he decided, as he took stock. He felt miserably unwell, admittedly, but the pain of their fractured core _ had _ actually eased a bit.

A few seconds later found Elk (and Wiki, by extension) hovering worriedly over him. "Are- are you feeling better? Oh dear, I hope we haven't made anything worse...."

Wiki emerged from their body, inspecting the core. "It seems the soul has affected the core even without direct contact. Hopefully in a positive manner."

Elk sat down, fidgeting. "Just- uh... take your time... all the time you need."

Linast hummed, both in acknowledgement of their words and to take comfort in the sensation of sound vibrating through his shadows. It was about as close to taking a steadying breath as he could get. The light that leaked from his core faded moment by moment, the sour ache fading with it. Soon enough it had gone dark again, and he felt recovered enough to pull himself back into a more humanoid shape.

“...I think it did help, things definitely hurt a bit less now,” Linast decided, after taking a minute to think. He reached over to give Elk a reassuring pat on the shoulder.

“I don’t feel anything bad that wasn’t already wrong,” he added. “That weird feeling got, um, way worse. It was pretty overwhelming. But with our core glowing like that, just now, I think... we might not be, ah... Words. Hmm. Processing? Processing energy very well right now, is all. Not through me at least. It wasn’t too bad when all I was absorbing was some dim light, but...”

"Touching it was a little too much at once...?" Elk asked meekly.

“Way too much,” Linast agreed.

"Ah. I'm glad you're feeling better, though."

"Indeed. How does your sibling normally manifest, if I may ask?" Wiki tilted their head as they asked him. "If you are of darkness, and she of light, perhaps it has assisted her more than you."

Linast nodded. “Yeah, she’s light. Looks a bit like me except glowing, and her magic can—apply more force to things in the light rather than more in the dark.”

He hummed, staring thoughtfully at the hot spring. “I think you’re right, it’s probably more helpful for her than me. But... if we weren’t hurt it might not even have bothered me, either. I don’t think it’s, ah—incompatible with us or anything, it should be safe.”

Linast’s gaze drifted down to their core, and he frowned. He... did trust these two, already. They’d done absolutely nothing but help him. “...could one of you take us in? Our core is both of us, it might be more comfortable. But if it isn’t, I don’t want to drop us if I get overwhelmed again.”

Wiki blinked. "Take you in? Like... Holding you in our void? We can, though I didn't expect you'd know."

Elk demonstrated, reaching into their body - it seemed to ripple as their hand plunged in. "Yeah, I keep a few things. Like this old nail that I've had for as long as I can remember. I don't really use it, though." They had partially pulled out something that looked like a small sword, lined with cracks, before pushing it back in. "I can hold onto you two, if you like. Or, wait- did you mean something else-"

“Oh!” Linast blinked, more than a bit surprised. Fascinated, he leaned forward as Elk demonstrated. “That’s—no, I, uh, I didn’t realize you could do that at all, actually. I just meant... hold us in the water to see if it works without having to go through my shadows. I’m, um... we might be here a while, otherwise, if I can’t keep myself from flinching like that every time.”

"O-Oh! I see." Elk rubbed a hand on their neck, quite clearly embarrassed. "We can definitely hold you in the water. That’s… definitely a smarter option.”

Linast chuckled a bit, though he hoped Elk didn’t think he was laughing at them. Normally he hated struggling to make himself understood, but in this case it was wonderfully benign. It was nice to have a problem as easy to fix as a slight miscommunication.

He sat back up again, eyes flicking to where Elk had reabsorbed their sword.. “That _ is _ really neat, though. Are... does the size matter, relative to you? Or do you have some s-sort of pocket dimension going on, or a link back to the Void...? You were talking about, mm, what was the word... unity, earlier.”

"Size doesn't matter at all! It really is very convenient. The mass of the object seems to vanish as soon as it is within us." Wiki hummed, tapping their chin. "I presume it is a pocket dimension of a sort. Each of ours is separate, after all. We were once indeed a unified entity, a single will. But we are torn apart. A little piece of Void within each of us."

Linast tilted his head as he listened. “That does s-sound pretty convenient,” he mused, once they were finished. “I... think I’ll pass on experiencing it myself unless we need to, though. I hate small dimensions. I’m sstuck in one often enough as it is.” Linast grimaced slightly, then shook his head, humming quietly as he focused on the rest of their statements.

“Do you, ah... remember anything, from before? Or do you know where you came from mostly from records, again?”

Wiki nodded. "Mmm. Most of my knowledge comes from external sources - I knew everything in the Archives as soon as Elk awakened me. I don't know much about before - a few glimpses, perhaps - but if I delve deep into my mind, there seems to be some memories locked away. The few times I've attempted to breach them, I fell dormant for quite some time."

Elk waved a hand. "In my case, I remember a few things from... a very long time ago. Bits and pieces. Then there's a big gap, a- a haze. But then I was aware again, and escaped the... place I was in." They muttered the last bit. "Wiki helped fill a lot of the gaps."

Linast listened quietly, unable to quell a slight frown. It was a bit concerning to think that something in Wiki’s mind had been so thoroughly locked away that simply trying to think of their past could essentially knock them unconscious. And he didn’t like the sound of Elk having to escape from anywhere, nor the way their voice fell as they spoke of it—as if they were reluctant to even name the place. From the brief quote they’d spoken from their creator the last time he’d started asking about their past, Linast doubted their memories from before this ‘haze’ were very pleasant, either.

‘No mind to think. No will to break. No voice to cry suffering.’ _ Stars _. Linast wondered if someone had done their level best to make those statements real. It was certainly hard to talk about or form opinions on things you couldn’t remember or weren’t awake for, after all.

...Linast was glad he hadn’t met these two a few years ago. He’d have been barely holding himself back from tearing down the walls. Now, though... well, there were more productive things to do with the fury bubbling up on their behalf. Besides, even his usual impulse to scratch when stressed was buried beneath exhaustion at the moment. Small favors.

Linast let out a long, slow hiss; the sound of static was a satisfying standby. “I’m... sorry you’re blocked off from your own life like that,” he said, once he’d gathered his thoughts. “It s-sounds pretty scary. And frustrating. How long have you been... properly awake, like you are now?”

Wiki and Elk both bowed their heads. "Thank you... It is... a situation to be in. We do the best we can."

Wiki rose and tapped their chin. "Elk woke me perhaps... one of your years or so ago? We've been wandering for a while, exploring the corners of this kingdom, piecing together all the information."

"It's been fun! But taxing, sometimes."

“I can imagine,” Linast said, with a wry smile. “This place doesn’t seem big on sstairs, so far, I can’t tell if they’re broken or just never existed. And the—husks can’t help.”

Wiki gave a soft huff of a laugh. "Stairs. Imagine that. Though the husks aren’t too terrible to avoid.” They shook their head in amusement, before giving a sideways glance at Elk. “Should we, perhaps…”

Elk nodded and rose, approaching Linast. "We should probably try to get your core in the spring - see if it helps."

He blinked - and then nodded. “Oh. Yeah,” he agreed. He was glad to learn more about these two, and the discussion had given him more time to recover from the unpleasant experience of his first attempt to interact with the spring. But while he certainly felt more stable after that first bit of healing, Phosa still hadn’t woken up. Another try was probably a good idea, wary as he was.

Linast picked up their core and carefully passed them to Elk. “Just, ah—keep the water out of the cracks, for now, and we’ll s-see how it goes?”

They merged back with Elk as they took them into their hands, extending a few tendrils to stabilize their hold. "We'll do our best. Please tell us if it gets too much."

“I will. Or, uh, if I flicker out again, that’s probably a bad sign too.”

They gave an affirmative hum and made their way to the spring, wading into it while holding their core above water-level. Linast watched Elk and Wiki’s progress, wincing slightly in anticipation as they lowered them until the side without cracks made contact with the spring.

For a moment, something deep in their core twisted again—but then it finally seemed to click back into place, and for the first time in a while, Linast felt almost balanced again. After that, contact with the spring didn’t seem to produce anything more dramatic than the warming sensation of energy seeping into them and a few twinges of pain through the cracks as some of the deeper ones began to seal.

Linast’s eyes narrowed incredulously, and he frowned at the water in faint betrayal. “...I never thought I’d ss-say I regret being cautious,” he muttered. “And... I don’t, really. I didn’t want to put it on both of us without trying it myself first when Phosa couldn’t... agree to the risk? But. _ Stars _. Maybe I should’ve gone with your idea of splashing some on our core first.”

"_ Well _, we'd say it's always better safe than sorry - you never know."

“I know. Just. Fff. I’m glad I don’t have to do it again, at least. Thank you for your help.” Linast smiled a bit, watching as the cracks gradually healed over.

“It’s our pleasure. We’re glad we could lend a hand when you weren’t doing so well. But it looks like you're doing a lot better already!" As the reach of the fissures shrunk, Elk and Wiki submerged a bit more of them in the water. "The light of life does tend to do that to you, aheh."

“It—certainly seems to! That’s really impressive, honestly,” Linast said with a chuckle. A thought occurred to him, and he sobered. “...The medics back home would... they’d give a lot, for s-ssomething like this.”

Wiki emerged from Elk, speaking as they peered at their core. “Ah, to have no such source of vital energy to heal your wounds! We’d imagine it would be useful in many a scenario to have. Though the two of you were created by powerful magic, so perhaps an artificial source can be fabricated...” They shook their head. “Anyways. I certainly hope your sibling can recover soon. We'd love to meet her."

Linast hummed. “She already is, a bit. I can feel her magic again at least. Ah—careful, actually, that’s... ”

Linast tensed as white light slid up around their core in a protective shell and pushed fretfully against Elk’s grasp.

Elk started when the light began to form - luckily, their tendrils were wrapped quite securely around them when they fumbled a bit. "Ah! Was that-"

"-your sibling?"

“Yes- We’re safe, Phosa, it’s okay,” Linast called, and frowned when he didn’t feel much response from her. From the looks of it, Phosa wasn’t managing to put much substance behind her light yet, but he stood in preparation to intervene just in case.

Wiki squinted at the light pushing against them. "Hmmm. If you're comfortable with it, we can release our hold and submerge your core in the spring. More effective, most likely, and she seems a bit distressed by our contact."

“Oh—yeah, go ahead. It’s definitely healing us, even if any water does get in we should be able to phase it back out again.”

Concerned, Linast pushed his own magic towards their core, folding a layer of shadow in around Phosa’s light to talk. _ safe-rest-myturn _, he insisted, trying to calm her. His tension eased slightly as she stopped pushing at Elk and Wiki’s hold, though she didn’t release their core.

"Excellent." Wiki once again submerged into Elk, who nodded and gently placed the core in a shallow area of the spring.

Linast let his own shadows fade as the pair moved. He wasn’t keen to touch the water again, and manifesting past Phosa’s light when she wasn’t being careful of him was a strain in its own right.

He relaxed further as Elk—and by extension, Wiki—stepped back. The last thing he needed was for Phosa to lash out at their new allies before she’d fully reoriented herself.

"Is this alright?" They hovered around their core, curling tendrils betraying their concern.

“It’s fine, thank you,” Linast said, moving as close to their core as he could without going over the water. “Phosa?” he tried, again. “Are you awake?”

_ notawake-ow-yourturn _, she flashed back at him, with a griping undertone that startled a relieved laugh out of him. “She’s okay,” he said, happily. “...More or less.”

"That's good to hear," they sighed in relief. They gave another look before they climbed out of the spring, sitting next to Linast. "How about you? Are you feeling better?"

“I am,” Linast confirmed, still smiling. “I mean, I’m _ really _ tired, but even that’s better than it was. S-seriously, thank you.”

"We're glad we could help. You seem like a decent entity and we'd hate to see you suffer."

They were silent for a moment. "Can you tell us about where you're from? We've told you a bit about us, but- we're curious. We've never seen such a breach in the fabric of space."

Linast looked over to them, his smile fading into a chagrined expression. “Yeah, you’ve—been taking a lot of things in sstride, huh? This has to be pretty weird for you. Um...”

Linast hummed thoughtfully, trying to think of where to start, how to explain without rambling too much. “We... call it the Spire,” he said. “It’s in a pocket dimension, though depending on what that means to you it might be... bigger than you’re picturing? And it’s not like yours, it’s not—touching anywhere, or anybody, s-specific. In normal space I mean.”

He shrugged and gestured uncertainly. “I don’t know how a lot of this works, but I remember the way it’s been explained to me, and they say that because it... doesn’t exist in or touch any specific place, it’s technically also everywhere at once? Or in a state where it _ could _ be anywhere at once? S-something like that, anyway. Any dimension, any location _ within _ those dimensions... theoretically we could get to anywhere.”

Linast curled in on himself, folding his arms around his knees and looking back towards the hotspring where his sibling rested. “There are... so many other worlds, other realms, out there,” he said quietly. “Ones like this, and, ah, ones... too alien to describe.”

The pair leaned closer and closer as he spoke, riveted. "That's..."

Wiki practically burst from Elk, tendrils splaying all over their head in their excitement. "Fascinating! So you've seen many, many dimensions, I presume? Oh, the possibilities must be endless! Oh, if you're willing I would _ love _ to read your memories some time. There must be so many interesting things in there! And, oh! If you came from there, is it possible for others to go there as well? Are there peoples indigenous to that dimension, do many people come and go?"

Linast chuckled fondly at Wiki’s excited outburst. He’d been wondering how they’d react. “I’ve been to a lot of neat places, yeah,” he said, smiling at them.

He couldn’t keep it up for long, though, and glanced away back towards the water. “...I’ll... think, about the memories. We can talk about it later.” There were a lot of things he wasn’t proud of. There were even more things that he just didn’t want to relive—that he didn’t want to make anyone else relive either, for that matter. He sighed, and turned his attention to the rest of their questions.

“There’s one... indigenous person, if—if that word even works for one person?” Linast hesitated, but then pushed on. “Felidaen—this person—she’s like us; made by someone, for some... purpose, though she doesn’t remember what. But she’s the person who generates the pocket dimension, just—from the inside. She can’t leave. Other people can _ sort of _ come and go, but...”

Linast fell silent as he tried to figure out how to put the rest into words. His fingers tensed, clawing without much effect into his arms, and for a moment he wished he was holding something solid.

Out of the corner of his vision, a small hand reached out and grabbed his, stilling his hands. Linast twitched and glanced down. "You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to," Elk said quietly. "Felidaen... I hope... she doesn't feel too trapped in there."

"Trapped for whatever purpose her creator decreed." Wiki closed their eyes. "It truly is fascinating. I would love nothing more than to know more, but it seems to trouble you."

Linast hummed, closing his eyes for a moment, and released his own arm to give Elk’s hand a grateful squeeze instead. He was careful to keep his fingers dull, the pressure gentle.

“No, it’s... part of this _ is _ important, actually, you need to know,” he insisted. “I just. Heh. Seven years and you’d think I’d get better at talking about it, but it still makes me—so angry.”

“The Spire eats people; takes them and makes them its own,” came a new voice from near the hotspring. Linast brightened a bit, straightening up to smile at his sibling as she climbed out of the water with their core tucked under one arm.

Wiki looked like they were about to respond, when both they and Elk snapped their gazes to the newcomer. "Oh! Hello," they waved a tendril in greeting, mirrored by Elk. "You must be the sibling we've heard so much about." They paused, processing what she said. "Eating people, you say...?"

"That sounds... pretty terrifying." Elk murmured, gaze sliding to the side.

“It’s not..._ literal _ ,” Linast clarified. “But, it does bind you to itself, if you have too much contact with it. _ Any _ contact with it.”

Phosa strode over to him and passed him their core, and he returned it to its usual place in his chest. “I’m gone for—I’m gone, and when I wake up you’ve given us to a stranger and let them put us in a pool of _ glowing mystery goo _,” she muttered. “What’s going on?”

“You’re welcome. You should’ve left us in for longer,” Linast said with a relieved laugh, just glad she was up and talking again. He tugged her down to sit beside him, on the other side from Elk. Phosa relented, albeit with a dissatisfied hiss, and eyed Wiki and Elk with a wary expression.

“This is Elk, and this is Wiki,” Linast added, gesturing to each of them. “They’ve been helping us. I was—explaining the Spire, but you heard that.”

"Nice to meet you." They both inclined their heads. "We share the same voice and sometimes the same body and sometimes the same mind."

“Hello,” Phosa said, returning their greeting with a nod of her own.

Wiki waved a tendril. "It's good to see you are more or less unharmed from the misadventures of earlier! If you are unaware - we do not know if you share memories as we do - Linast had come out of a rift in space, it seems, pursued by some unknown creatures. He helped lead them away, even though he was injured. We are grateful. Bringing you two to the spring was the least we could do."

By the end of their explanation, Phosa’s suspicious stare had been replaced with a thoughtful frown. “That... doesn’t sound great. And we don’t share thoughts like that, no; thank you for explaining...”

Phosa hummed, and shot a pensive look towards the spring. Linast felt a brief flicker of light over their core as she traced out the faint seams that were all that remained of their most recent injuries. “The spring healed us,” he offered quietly. “And they’ve been telling me about this world.”

Phosa glanced at him, studying his expression, and then turned back to Elk and Wiki. “Thank you,” she said, with a tired smile. “I’m grateful, too. Not everyone would stay to help people who brought trouble like that in with them.”

"We're glad to help." Elk laughed lightly. "Though, I'll admit I was very curious at first."

"Of course! There's nothing like you two in our entire world! But more than the nature of your existence, we would love to know more about you two - well, in a more personable manner."

"It's been great having someone to talk to. There aren't many bugs around these days that travel as much as we do." Elk scuffed the stone under their feet.

“They’re explorers!” Linast told Phosa. She raised an eyebrow at him, then looked back at the pair.

“Yeah? That’s pretty neat. I could see how it’d be isolating, though.” Phosa glanced around the room they were in, with a calculating look in her eye that told Linast she was assessing the entrances to the place. “If you think we’re safe here for now, I... wouldn’t mind talking for a while. Doesn’t seem like Linast would either.” She gave Linast a pointed nudge with one elbow. “If I don’t like a topic I’ll tell you to fuck off, don’t worry.”

“I’m curious too, honestly,” Linast added. “I’ve never s-sseen anybody like you two, either. But—I’ve already asked you a lot of questions.”

"We don’t mind - The only thing second to obtaining knowledge is sharing it!” Wiki laughed. “I know not if the rules of our world apply to those creatures, but nothing seems to attack us while we are in the springs. It seems to be... a sanctuary of some sort. A place to rest." Wiki gestured to the cavern as they spoke. "I'm sure, at least, we have some time.”

“Huh. A protective ward, maybe..?” Linast suggested. Both he and Phosa relaxed a bit at the idea. “That’s really good to hear.”

Elk nodded. "We would like to more about The Spire, if you want to share, though. You were just talking about how it traps people there. But... you're here now?"

“Yeah, we should definitely get explaining about the Spire out of the way first,” Phosa said with a decisive nod. “Linast had it right, ‘bind’ might be a better word. The Spire is a building in the pocket dimension Linast was talking about. It was built using Felidaen’s magic, but it’s not under her control. It’s not under _ anyone’s _ control, we don’t think. And it... tethers people’s souls to itself, I guess you could say. It might even reach out through them to claim more people if we’re not careful. And if a person is... _ born _ there, we think it can warp them to be more useful to itself.”

“Soul is something different in our realm,” Linast clarified quietly, folding his arms across his knees again. “Kind of. It’s still... life force, and you need yours to live, and it leaves when you die. But a soul isn’t—it’s not a s-substance, not a thing you can see or touch. Not without the right magic, anyway. Every person has a unique s-soul, and that soul carries part of their—identity? It carries a part of your identity in a way that’s more, ah, _ permanent _ than the body. With the right magic, some people can make it carry memories and the rest of your personality, too.”

Phosa paused for a moment to gather her thoughts. But she’d always been better at keeping up a mask than Linast, and while her expression had grown cold, her words remained steady. “So. Wherever we go, that part of ourselves is still connected to it, and it never lets us leave for long. But how much _ leash _ you get, and what happens if you push the limits, can vary a bit.”

"That sounds... insidious. Like something that might cause one despair, if they felt too trapped."

"That's never a good feeling," Elk murmured. "Feeling like you can't escape."

"We've... gotten used to it. Kind of." Linast let out a short laugh, but there wasn't much amusement to it.

Wiki hummed, closing their eyes. "All you can do is adapt. Yes.” They opened their eyes to peer at them. “Interesting that your soul is different. Though I suppose most regular bugs do not perceive soul as we do. Hmm. But back to the binding... has there ever been an instance in which one was not affected by the Spire, even after contact with the dimension?"

"Like Phosa said, it does vary a bit, at least?" Linast said, uncertain. His fingers tapped restlessly against one arm as he thought. "Like, Diamond, I don't think he can leave for more than a week or two without starting to get... really sick. But we can leave for longer than that, I spent... a year, once, leaving for a month at a time and only coming back for a day or two in between each trip. But I was in really bad shape by the end of it--couldn't think straight for... weeks."

"There was other stuff going on for you," Phosa muttered. Linast shrugged uncomfortably, unable to argue. Phosa hummed as she thought.

"_ No _ effect, though... I mean, people who are actively hostile to the place or to Felidaen don't seem to get stuck," she said. "Not all the time, at least. And things that aren't people don't get stuck."

"Other than that... maybe Dalgiroth?" Linast added. "They're kind of a--what do they call themself--an 'avatar of space-time' that stops in for a bit every couple of years to say hi, or when we ask them for help with something. They’re the freest out of all of us, I think. There are a few other people who are... nearly as powerful as them, and they don't quite have to live in the S-spire, either. And there’s this one group of merchants who only come in a couple of times a year, and they seem okay. We don’t know what’s happening there.”

"I see... very, very interesting. If the risk were not so high, we might have been compelled to see the Spire for ourselves - the nature of its existence is very interesting." Wiki idly twirled a tendril. "If only I could... study the phenomenon......."

Elk tapped Wiki's face. "It doesn't seem safe. We could get trapped. We- we can't have that."

They blinked before hunching over, sulking. "This is true." Their head shot up straight again. "But! Perhaps there are conditions that would prevent one from being bound!" They lifted a tendril to their chin. "An avatar of space-time... ᵖᵒʷᵉʳᶠᵘˡ ᵇᵉᶦⁿᵍˢ... ᵍᵒᵈˢ... ʰᶦᵍʰᵉʳ..." Their muttering was quickly becoming unintelligible.

Linast watched Wiki mutter to themself for a few, shifting uncomfortably.

“We don’t know a lot about it,” Phosa offered eventually. “We just know what affects us, and what we’ve been told so that we can warn people, and what we see. Other people know more. Diamond—he’s one of the Spire’s creators—has been trying to find a way to free people, or at least to keep new people from getting caught.”

Linast picked up the thread she had started. “Sso... well, I know just... getting involved too deeply is a risk, if a... s-ssmallish one. And researching it long term would—definitely be that. But, Diamond would be the person to ask about it. One conversation would probably be okay. And if it isn’t, well, he’d know that too.”

"Oh, a creator of the Spire? That is... most certainly someone I'd like nothing more than to pick the brain of. If it would ever be possible to do so."

Elk nodded. "How would we be able to meet? Actually," they straightened a bit, "How do you get back to or communicate with the Spire? I don't know if you two are stuck here for a bit, but if you need to get back...?"

Phosa shot Linast a questioning glance. He grimaced. “We showed up alone, and we weren’t carrying any of the—communication gear,” he told her, then looked at Wiki and Elk. “We usually don’t, we, ah, can’t move freely without dropping stuff. S-so... someone finding us would be ideal.”

“The group we were teleporting with before things went wrong, they should know _ that _ something went wrong, and have a start on where to look. They can trace us through our bond to the Spire if nothing else,” Phosa confirmed. “But, well, something went wrong. They might be hurt, or dealing with those creatures you mentioned. Eventually someone at the Spire should notice we’re not back on time, but, again. Things might be bad at the Spire, too.”

“If all else fails...” Linast shrugged halfheartedly. “When we hit the end of _ our _, ah, ‘leash,’ and there’s nothing to interfere... we normally just get pulled back eventually. Poof! Back at the Ss-spire. We can’t teleport between dimensions on our own, but the Spire can call us back.”

“Leaves us feeling like shit, though,” Phosa muttered.

Elk twitched a bit. "Ah, that... does not sound good. Let's hope that someone will figure things out. In the meantime..."

"We could try to find out what's going on with those creatures." Wiki crossed a few tendrils. "If you've never seen them before, they must have come from a different dimension... I can try to read into their memories to see what happened just before the incident, if we are able to capture one. Alive preferred."

"But still!" Elk hopped up. "If you're here for a while, we can show you around Hallownest. The lands are still pretty, even if the kingdom has fallen."

“I’d definitely like to know what those things are up to,” Phosa said, nodding at Wiki. “And get a look at them myself.”

“I’m not up for a fight right now, and neither are you,” Linast protested. “...Not if we don’t have to, at least. Not until we’ve rested. And... I’d love to at least—explore, but I don’t think that’d be safe until we are, either.” Especially when he didn’t know what the creatures could do, and would have Elk and Wiki to protect besides.

"I... hmm." Elk fidgeted, wringing their hands. "I can fight... in theory. I know the skills, I have the strength. I have my nail."

"And yet, you do not. You don't have to force yourself, Elk." Wiki patted them on the head with a tendril. "Knowing and doing are two very different things."

Elk gave a frustrated sound. "Nnnngh. But it would be helpful right about now-"

Linast’s core twisted as Elk spoke. _ Stars _ this was a familiar refrain.

“Don’t,” Linast said, clasping their shoulder with one hand and interrupting their protests. He leaned down to meet their gaze; their own mask couldn’t show much expression, but he could certainly show them his.

“S-seriously. I’ve spent... so long, telling myself I know what I need to do so I should just do it, no matter how I felt about it. You just get... more avoidant, the more you try to force yourself, and—and you’re miserable besides. _ And _ you do a bad job, if you do actually manage to force it, or... or maybe you don’t, maybe you’re good at it after all, but it—then you’re expected to do it more, by yourself if no one else, and it _ hurts _ .” Linast made a sharp, throwaway gesture with his free hand. “And then you _ still _ burn out eventually.”

“...It’s okay,” Phosa added carefully, once Linast had bled dry of words and let his hand fall again with a shaky flicker. She leaned against his side, a solid, grounding contact, and gave Elk a reassuring smile. “We can rest here for a while, as long as it’s safe. Or if it’s not, I’ll poke at your weird glowing goo stuff a bit more and then we can leave and start exploring. Linast and I can take turns resting. We do it all the time.”

"I..." They were frozen for a moment listening then processing their words, before the tension seemed to drain from Elk's shoulders. "Th-thank you... You're right." They lifted their head to look at them. "I'm really not good with fighting, for various reasons. I just. Didn't want you two to be hurt by my own incompetence."

"You are far from incompetent. Different people have different skills and different weaknesses. Your forte is simply not in battle." Wiki wrapped a few tendrils around them in an odd sort of hug, and Linast leaned back to give them space. "You must take care of your own needs, as well."

“Definitely not incompetent,” Linast agreed. “Wiki’s right. And you—kept your head and got us out of a pretty bad spot, earlier, yeah?”

Wiki turned to the siblings, bowing their head. "Thank you. We will do our best to guide you away from danger, but we only know the behaviors of the bugs here - of course, we know nothing of the extradimensional creatures."

“We’ll follow your lead,” Phosa said. “Just getting around whatever regular hazards you have here is great. We’re _ all _ at a disadvantage, with the extradimensional folk. We’ll just have to figure things out as we go.”

Linast stood, passing their core off to Phosa. “It s-sounds like you all think we should head out?”

Elk nodded. "If you two feel like you're all better, we can start trying to find out more about the creatures."

"Since they have probably already dispersed, perhaps the rifts would be safe to check. I wonder if they remain active, or if there are simply traces that are left." Wiki returned to Elk's body. "Regardless, I expect we'll learn _ something _ if we investigate."

“We’re healed, yeah,” Linast said with a nod. “Just tired.” He gestured vaguely to the hot springs. “But from how things felt earlier, I think I can, ah—funnel a fair amount of energy s-straight to Phosa, now that our core’s healed. If it works, she can take over for a while and I’ll rest.”

Phosa frowned at him, but didn’t comment, glancing back to watch Wiki merge with Elk. “Sounds like a good plan to me,” she said. “Especially if you think we can stay out of sight on the way back. Worst case scenario the rifts are still active like you say and more are coming through, but... still better to know that now than get surprised later.”

"Indeed," they said. "We're glad to hear your core's healed, but yes, Linast, if you can get some rest - that would be excellent." They rose and padded closer to the cave's entrance. "Whenever you're ready, we can head over. We'll do our best to guide you, Phosa."

“Thank you. I’ll try to blend in,” Phosa said with a wry smile. Linast grinned a bit. She’d gotten far better at controlling her light to suit her needs, and could indeed appear outwardly dim enough to be stealthy. But it wasn’t hard to think back to a time when that had definitely not been the case. Shaking his head, Linast let his humanoid form fade, and took a moment to brace himself.

Then he spread a pool of shadow out through the hot spring and did what he’d supposedly been made to do: consumed it.

Not entirely, of course. He didn’t want to take more of the resource than Phosa would need, didn’t know if it was finite. And the main source of the hot spring’s energy wasn’t literally light. Interacting with it still felt... strange, left him numb, and it took a lot of concentration to keep his magic active. Still, he managed it to a slow count of three before giving in and dissipating again.

“You good?” Phosa asked quietly, her voice vibrating through their core. Linast mustered enough energy to flash a silent confirmation, and he felt her stand and carry them over to the others.

“Alright!” she said, with false enthusiasm. “Let’s go try to find out how big of a mess we’re in.”


	3. Reconnaissance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Elk, Wiki, Linast, and Phosa finally see what they're up against.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a while, but we're still at it! We've actually RP'd up to Chapter 7, but getting the art and streamlining and everything does take a while! Worth it, though.
> 
> For this chapter's main artwork, Gossy did the sketch/composition and character lines/flats. Auspice did the background, shading, and effects. Additional artworks are by Auspice!
> 
> Auspice: Elk and Wiki ([@elk-and-thearchivist](https://elk-and-thearchivist.tumblr.com/))
> 
> Gossy: Linast and Phosa ([@justashadetalkative](https://justashadetalkative.tumblr.com/))

* * *

As per usual, Elk guided them expertly through the caverns and back into Greenpath. Hardly a husk noticed them as they went by, even with Phosa's dim glow. 

Phosa. An interesting entity, as well - very different in mannerisms from her sibling. Perhaps not surprising, given the polarity of their compositions.

And what interesting compositions indeed! Light and darkness. Yet not quite the pale light of soul, or the brilliance of the Old Light. And Linast's darkness was not the same void as they. 

Ah, their mind has wandered once more. Already, they approach the area of the rifts.

"We're almost there," Elk called quietly.

“All right,” Phosa murmured from close behind them. She dimmed still further as the sounds of activity began to reach the group from the cavern ahead, her expression going grim. 

Soon they’d drawn close enough to see a stark white light shining through the foliage ahead. Carefully, Phosa pushed forward to join the pair and slowly shifted a frond of greenery just far enough to give them a view of the rift area.

The rifts were larger now. One had expanded down to the ground, anchored by sigils to form a doorway large enough to fit several people side by side. The others remained as slightly smaller tears in space. They opened into some hazy place that was too brightly lit to focus on; what little could be seen was surreal, seeming to pull and twist without actually moving.

The rift beings seemed to be hunting. Slain husks and Greenpath creatures had been piled haphazardly nearby, orange fluid leaking out across the floor. As the group watched, a group of dragged in yet another bug to add to the pile, then departed again. 

A singular rift being in white robes and a glowing, halo-like headdress circled slowly around the pile, tracing out sigils in an ever widening arc. Other rift beings roamed the cavern, some apparently on guard, others setting up a sort of camp and talking cheerfully amongst themselves as they carried supplies through the central rift. 

Their hidden vantage point gave Wiki a closer look at the roaming creatures than they’d had thus far. The bipedal ones seemed vaguely bug-like, with olive yellow carapaces, four arms, and four long, delicate antennae. The quadrupedal ones were harder to place, with smooth navy hides, a set of stunted arms above their lower forelimbs, and whip-like antennae and tails that were each as long again as their bodies. All of them wore gold-colored armor and matching simple masks. And each and every creature’s eyes burned with the same harsh light that poured from the rifts.

Phosa’s expression was tight as she let the greenery fall back into place. “...that is... a pretty big mess,” she whispered. “_Shit._”

Wiki's stability within Elk quivered as they observed the scene, motes and tendrils flicking out. Elk was suddenly anxious as well, taking a few steps back. 

Wiki reached out, laying a tendril on Phosa's shoulder and giving a questioning prod for entry into her mind. They sensed her surprise, but quick assent. *_Forgive my intrusion. I don't wish to be overheard._*

They could feel both their own and Elk's uneasiness bleeding into the bridge, but they supposed it couldn't be helped. *_It looks like they're killing and gathering the husks. Yet... I can't help but feel uneasy. I somehow doubt they'll stop at the ones already half-dead. Not to mention, those sigils... What are they for...?_*

Elk's mental presence echoed their sentiment. It was a much softer presence than theirs - very accommodating towards other entities in their mind. *_I don't think that they're any good news for Hallownest. Or- this dimension, maybe, if their intent is... larger scale......_*

*_I think you’re right_,* Phosa agreed. *_On all fronts. I don’t know what the sigils are but... considering corpses seem to be a primary component, I doubt it’s anything good._*

Her thoughts flickered rapidly as she compared these beings to similar prior experiences. She seemed to be doing her best to call Wiki’s attention to the relevant ones.

This wasn’t the first time otherworldly beings had interrupted teleportation to and from the Spire, though it wasn’t common, either. ‘Vector wyrms’ seemed to be the most common culprit; they were simple creatures that fed off of the energy of teleportation spells, destabilizing the spell in the process. Hostile individuals had also managed it a time or two, but they had usually been specifically searching for the Spire. 

And there had once been a realm breach vaguely similar to these rifts in space, though it had been on a much larger scale. The edges of the Spire’s dimension had spilled into some vast, hungering darkness, lit by occasional sparks of lightning. Only Dalgiroth’s intervention and a lot of panicked work on the part of the spellcasters in the Spire had managed to pull them back from that particular incident. *_At least these rifts seem... stable...?_* Phosa didn’t seem reassured.

Wiki's thoughts churned as they observed Phosa's thoughts. They weren't reassured either. 

*_There are way too many of them for us to confront... I doubt trying to fight them directly would turn out well._* Elk gave a mental shudder.

*_If we could... seal the rifts, somehow. We could cut them off from their base of operations, before they establish themselves here…_* Rapid thoughts flickered across their mind - old magic, runes, seals, dreams, weavers-

*_Ah. There is another kingdom by the depths of Hallownest. Deepnest, the land of the Weavers. They are, or were, perhaps, rumored to weave intricate spells. Perhaps we could attempt to learn their magic to seal the rifts._*

*_It's worth a shot._* Phosa went distant and unfocused for a moment, her body wavering as she felt through the cavern. It wasn't quite sight, but she seemed to be able to get a general idea of the creature's locations and movements.

*_...If it worked, we could be sure they wouldn't get reinforcements, and we'd have enough time to be careful about it. If we could pick them off slowly after that, I do think Linast and I could take the ones that are already here,_* she decided, refocusing. *_Especially once we're at full strength again._*

Phosa looked at them with a serious expression. *_How long of a journey is it?_*

Their mind flashed with scenery, flying through various areas - a mental map coalescing in their mind. What would be the best way?

In moments, they traced a path in their mental map. *_Yes, the best option is most likely..._* They guided their mental image in a rapid journey, passing through Fog Canyon, the Queen's Station, the Fungal Wastes, before bringing them to a chasm of darkness. Deepnest. Phosa leaned forward as if to listen closer, not that it would make much difference.

*_It shall be a bit of a journey. Fog Canyon is dangerous, but not in the usual sense. We can guide you through safely - we are very familiar with it. It's where we met._* Elk gave a nod at that.

*_Deepnest... it is a realm of darkness, we suppose. And not for the faint of heart._* Images of parasitized husks and bugs tunneling dirtcarvers flickered across their mind. *_The Weavers' Den is said to be deep within the kingdom. We'll have to do a bit of exploring._*

*_That does seem like quite a ways,_* Phosa agreed. *_And those are... certainly some interesting creatures, there in Deepnest. But it seems you know the way pretty well._* 

She sat back again, smiling weakly. *_If nothing else, it will be interesting to see where you two met. And Linast is always up for some exploration. I’m sure we’ll manage to find something._*

*_That is indeed the hope._* Wiki retreated from the mental bridge, and Elk quietly stepped away from the scene of the rifts, looking around a bit before spotting the path to Fog Canyon. They waved a hand at Phosa, indicating that she follow.

As they started the journey Phosa seemed to stay on high alert, her attention focused as much on their surroundings and on checking for pursuit from behind them as it was focused on following Wiki and Elk.

Soon, the air around them seemed to shift - thicker, almost fluid, and charged with an electrical energy. The bubbles particular to the Canyon began to populate their surroundings, soon giving way to the more hazardous ones, as well. 

They paused a moment, warning Phosa: "Don't touch any of the bubbles with nuclei. They'll explode. Same for the larger jellyfish, though you have a chance to avoid them." They peered down the path. "Follow us closely - no harm will come to you here if you know how to avoid everything."

Phosa eyed the bubbles warily. “Noted. No touching,” she echoed, picking her way past the ones they’d pointed out to her.

Wiki and Elk were both focused on plotting their pathway through the canyon, so neither were the first to notice when a group of the extradimensional creatures emerged from the undergrowth. Phosa had returned to keeping a careful watch on their surroundings however, and she froze immediately as they came into sight.

Phosa placed a warning hand on Elk's shoulder and made a hurried gesture towards the danger, but it was too late to duck back out of sight. The quadrupedal creatures at the head of the hunting party spotted them and let out excited cries.

“Shit. Run, I’ll be right behind you—“ Phosa hissed, taking a half step in front of the pair. A blinding wave of light flew forward along the path and collided with the quadrupedal creatures as they started to rush forward. It threw them back to collapse in a heap atop the bipedal creatures behind them, clearing the way to the canyon—for a few moments, at least.

"Ah, Void-" they extended a number of tendrils from Elk and they rapidly scaled the walls of the canyon. Wiki frequently cast their awareness back to make sure Phosa followed - they chose a path relatively easy to navigate, but that meant the creatures were quickly gaining on them.

*_Elk- we need-_*

*_A faster path, I know-_*

Phosa kept up fairly well, right on their heels and nearly mirroring their exact steps at times. But every once in a while they'd leap for a ledge she clearly hadn't expected them to, and she'd fall behind for a few moments as she readjusted. 

It wasn't long before one of the creatures came close enough to leap at Phosa - Wiki wrapped a tendril around her and pulled her out of the way, just in time to escape the explosion caused by the creature impacting a nucleated bubble. The creature let out a pained cry as Elk pulled them away from the blast zone, and Phosa stumbled a step as they set her down but soon caught her rhythm again. Unfortunately the rest of the creatures remained undeterred, perhaps more careful now that they were aware of the hazards.

Elk and Wiki kept the tendril in contact as they continued their escape. Phosa reached up to grip it with one hand, making sure that the connection didn't get interrupted. *_Phosa, we're going to change our destination a bit. There's a passage we know by heart, and we might be able to shake them by taking it. It's a slight detour, but-_*

*_Getting there at all sounds good to me, however many detours it takes,_* she replied. *_I tried to burn those things when they first showed up but it didn't do jack, shaking them's probably our best shot._*

Elk cursed in their joined minds. So they were resilient _and_ relentless. 

Despite the situation, Wiki felt a bit of amusement Elk's choice of words—giving a mental nudge equivalent to saying _language_—but the moment washed away quickly as they noticed the creatures gaining on them once more. 

*_We'll do our best. Actually, we might be able to…_* Letting Elk take care of the navigation, Wiki considered their options. They sent Phosa an image of a cluster of Ooma - a large group typically lingered near where they were going. *_The Ooma are normally passive, but if their outer body is damaged, the volatile core will immediately fly towards the attacker. They will unleash a powerful explosion on impact._*

Elk continued the thought: *_We might be able to do a little... misdirection. With enough of them, I doubt even these things will be unfazed? Though obviously it'll be pretty dangerous, we're handling explosives after all-_*

*_Phosa can do it._* It seemed that Linast had woken again. Though with the current pace they were keeping and the explosion earlier, it wasn't surprising. *_It's a good idea. I can take our core, or you two can carry us, and she can drop back to where the rift people are and attack the Ooma from their direction._*

Phosa assented, her mind quickly flicking through the necessary maneuver. She didn't seem concerned about the possibility of getting caught in the blast herself. *_They yelped at the explosion earlier. The light and heat might not do much, but I'm betting the concussive force will. Solid folk tend to squish._*

Wiki gave a mental equivalent of a snort. *_You have a point._*

*_Linast, good to see that you're awake. Your plan sounds very efficient. Though…_*

*_Will you two be alright? So long as your core is fine?_* Wiki could feel the concern emanating from Elk. Mirrored in their own self, though perhaps not as intensely. 

*_We’ll be safe from the Ooma, yes._* 

*_The light from the explosions might be painful for me, if I’m in line of sight of them,_* Linast added. *_But that’s all. It doesn’t actually do me any harm, it’s just—tiring._* The concept of ‘tired’ had a heavier mental weight to it than the word itself might suggest.

*_Guess we’ll find out for the rest. We don’t know what the creatures can do at close range. But they’d have to have some pretty specific abilities to be able to hurt me, and I don’t plan to linger._* 

*_Alright. Hopefully they don't have those abilities, then..._* Wiki gave a mental hum. *_Will you need a moment to form and split off? We'd probably be fine distracting them a moment if so._*

*_Are you sure you could distract them safely?_* Linast seemed distinctly concerned at the risk, trying to think through alternative options. *_We won’t need long, I can teleport our core now that we’re healed, but it’ll take me a second to get my feet under me. I'll probably just try to meet you up ahead._*

*_We'll be alright_,* Elk replied. *_We can handle that much. Probably._*

Wiki sent them a mental map of the area - there was an open area a little further, where the Ooma swarmed - and just beyond that stood the immense facility of the Archives. 

*_We're close...Good luck_.* They retracted their tendril. "We'll lead them off!"

“Meet you on the other side!” Phosa returned. Their core unspooled in ribbons of red and then into nothing at all, and moments later Phosa disappeared as well, flickering out of view like she’d never been there to begin with.

* * *

As Linast reclaimed their core, Phosa released her concentration on her form and turned her awareness outwards. The creatures were closer behind than she liked, but hopefully she was about to fix that.

Phosa located the Ooma that Wiki had described, glowing cores of orange at their centers making them stand out readily in her awareness. She should be able to target quite a few of them at once, especially since the creatures were even easier for her to feel than the Ooma nuclei. Their carapaces kept anything but their eyes from glowing outwardly, but the interior of their bodies stood out like beacons to her.

Phosa lined up the shots, tracing a mental trajectory between each creature and a few Ooma each, then hesitated. She’d lost track of Elk and Wiki in the shuffle, antithetical as their bodies were to her magic. Were they out of the bloom yet? She refocused, looking for the small splotch of void that would mark Elk in her awareness.

It took a moment to pinpoint them - they weren't nearly as far as she'd expected, their emptiness still in the midst of the swarm of lights. That was most definitely not out of the bloom. 

Their splotch expanded and contracted as they extended tendrils to vault themselves over and around the terrain, until it suddenly faltered and stopped.

Phosa didn't want to lose track of her sense of the creatures and Ooma, and she didn't want to distract Elk and Wiki at a bad time. But she generated a small sphere of light nearby, just enough to give her regular sight and hearing as she tried to figure out what had gone wrong.

She soon spotted the problem. One of the creatures had managed to nick Elk's leg, causing them to trip. But they were still only for another moment, as tendrils suddenly burst from their body - a blur of motion followed by a yelp from the offending creature. 

Elk was left hunched over in the aftermath, the tendrils having pulled them back a bit. One tendril hung in the air, wielding some kind of weapon that had been stained with a liquid light. 

The struck quadruped got up. Its mask had been knocked aside to reveal a fiercely toothed, four-eyed face, and a shallow gash along its cheek leaked more of the same bright fluid. It joined the rest of its pack and crouched a distance away from them - coiled energy about to strike.

Elk suddenly snapped their gaze to Phosa. The tendrils jerkily gestured to the Ooma, as if telling her, _Do it now,_ **_now_**_-_

Phosa hesitated for an instant, flickering with stress. They had at least a bit of distance between themselves and the creatures, but it _really_ wasn’t as much distance as she’d hoped. And they were still in the Ooma field. Would it set off a chain reaction, would they have time to get out—?

But Phosa was used to following instructions in combat situations, and Elk and Wiki were far more familiar with the Ooma than she was. An instant was all it took for her to shove her hesitance aside and refocus her attention, turning back to the creatures. 

One, two—three. And more than enough Ooma for each. She lashed out from each creature’s position simultaneously, sending out narrow lances of heat and light that were about as close to laser focus as she could manage at such short notice.

As soon as the lances made contact, the soft outer layer of the Ooma burst. The cores were suspended in the air for just a moment, a moment of calm - before they descended upon the creatures. 

Elk and Wiki just managed to leap out of the initial blast, ducking behind an outcropping.

But as the creatures were caught in the blast, the explosion of heat and light reverberating through the air, they lashed out. The pops of Oomas' outer layers seemed loud in the gap between the first explosion - and the ones thereafter. 

It seemed as if a chain of at least ten of them were set off, brightness overshadowing the light of anything else in the midst of the explosions. Phosa flinched at the overwhelming noise and instinctively dispelled her magic. Her hearing faded along with her light to leave her deaf once again. 

Quickly recovering, Phosa tried to re-locate Elk and Wiki through the ongoing detonations, hoping to shield them from the worst of the blasts. But the light of the explosions was so much stronger in her awareness. The pair blended into their surroundings—indistinguishable from flying debris and the dark interior of the cavern’s floor.

When the explosions finally stopped, she still hadn’t found Elk or Wiki. But the creatures were scattered on the canyon floor, and they were already weakly trying to get up. 

Phosa cursed heartily, forming in an amorphous shape and giving them a hard, merciless shove back to the ground. She honestly wasn’t paying much attention as she did so, though, still trying to relocate her allies. She couldn’t burn the creatures, and she’d never been as good as Linast at physical force or cutting edges, and—

—_There_. Finally. A trail of darkness was forming from a ways off from the scene, dripping from an amorphous spot of emptiness as it slowly moved further down the path.

That was probably Elk, or Wiki, or both; it certainly wasn’t Linast. _Stars_ they seemed to be in bad shape, though. 

Phosa hurriedly formed near them, glancing over their wounds with a wince. At least they were upright. Sort of. 

“Hey,” she muttered. She hovered uncertainly, her hands raised to offer support but not sure if it’d be welcome. “Hey, shit. I’m so sorry, that got way more hectic than I expected, I—I lost track of you for a few. Can I touch you? We need to get out of here—they’re not quite dead...”

They twitched, gooey tendrils flicking out. "Phosa...?" came out in a distorted warble. They shifted their head to look at her. "We'll... be alright once Elk wakes up and is able to focus. They're unconscious, they took the worst of it."

They curled their tendrils. "We were close, but- nnh. We got a direct hit from one at the very end. And Elk's shell has never- been very strong." 

They glanced back to where the creatures were. "Sorry, we- panicked for a moment back there. Sorry. We thought we could make it." They looked back up to her. "We can't move that well right now... If you could give us a hand, that would... be appreciated. You can touch us, but it may be better for you to avoid our unstable Void. The cloak... should be fine."

“Yeah, that’s—I probably shouldn’t try touching that stuff right now,” Phosa agreed, looking them over. They seemed to be bleeding Void, and floating motes rose from their body as well. But if the cloak worked as a barrier, she could probably manage this; it was close enough to full length.

Phosa sent a wary glance back towards the creatures, which were still struggling to stand, then crouched down. “I’m just going to pick you up, okay?”

They nodded, and she carefully tugged their cloak forward, wrapping it more securely about them. The texture under the cloak was almost fluid - they barely seemed to be holding their form.

They twitched suddenly, lifting their head a bit. "W... wait. Would it... be possible to capture one of the creatures? We might be able to find out something... now's... a good chance. They're weakened-"

“So are _we_,” Phosa returned, a bit more sharply than she’d meant to. They gave a minute flinch at that. She finished with the cloak, gently scooped them up, and held them close to her chest as she turned to check on the creatures’ progress. 

She watched as a quadrupedal creature nudged at the bipedal one—which hadn’t yet managed to regain its feet—and let out a slow, conflicted hiss. 

The problem was that Wiki was right. If the things were _this_ resilient, this may well be their best chance at capturing one safely. Especially if they were going to keep running into them like this, unprepared and far from full strength.

“...I’m not taking you back in there.” Then, her conviction growing, Phosa added, “And I’m not leaving you here undefended while I try to subdue three of them at once to make it safe enough to approach. We’ll meet back up with Linast. Then I’ll come back on my own and see if I can capture one.”

"..._Nnh._" They seemed wrought with tension, before they slumped as it drained from them. "I'm in no position to argue."

Phosa relaxed a bit as the tension drained from them, and readjusted her grip to keep them from slipping as they continued to speak. 

"We'll be safe in the Archives. We can rest there.... we know all the places to hide...." They slightly turned their head in the direction of her face. "Just... be careful..."

“I always am,” she replied, and then added pointedly: “Which is why we’re not staying here when Elk’s unconscious and you hardly seem much better off.” 

Phosa set off at as smooth a run as she could manage, keeping a sharp eye out for any remnant Ooma or nucleated bubbles. She didn’t want to aggravate their injuries, but she was also intent on getting them out of the way as quickly as possible. She would need to get back before the creatures recovered much further.

It wasn't long until they emerged from a passageway into a large cavern. Ooma floated aimlessly around the expansive space, hovering around a sprawling complex of bronze metal and glass windows that glowed with the same green as the acid lake it was built upon.

Wiki was silent and motionless until they had arrived; as soon as they came into sight of the building, they shifted their gaze to it. "We can go in through the main entrance. No one really alive... stays here." Phosa frowned a bit, finding the specification of 'really alive' a bit ominous. They shifted again, looking around. "Is Linast here already...?"

She set her reservations aside and nodded. "Yeah, I can feel us—there he is."

Linast finished his teleportation in from whatever recessed corner of the passageway he’d found, and fell in beside her as she started towards the Archive's entrance. He stared at Elk and Wiki, looking a bit horrified. "Phosa, what—?"

"We fucked up," Phosa interrupted. She caught a cold blankness settling into his expression, and when he began to turn back the way they'd come she reached out with a formless limb to tug him back towards her by the core. His form shuddered unsteadily against her light even as he gave a petulant hiss and tried to push her away. "_We_ fucked up, Linast. Don't even think about going back there. We can't afford more mistakes right now and you have been active _way_ too long."

Linast subsided reluctantly, his attention drifting back towards Wiki. He started to reach towards them, then seemed to have second thoughts and tucked his hand back in against his chest. "Are you two okay..?" he asked, hesitant. "I mean—s-stable, or... is there anything we can do to help?"

They'd curled into themselves at Phosa's words, as if contrite. "We'll be... fine. Once Elk wakes up. They- they have an ability to heal themself using soul - we still have a lot we absorbed in the spring. I'm just... holding us together until then. Just need to rest for a bit..."

They turned Elk's head to Linast. "You said… active too long...? Are you alright—hnm." They flinched as more void dripped from the crack in their shell. "Let's- we should get inside- then we can all rest. I can show you where to go."

"Best to get out of sight," Phosa agreed quietly, shifting her hand away from the fresh drip of void before it could make contact. As she approached the entrance to the Archive, she exchanged a brief glance with Linast. He looked painfully worried, and she couldn't quite disagree with him. 

Wiki said they'd be fine, and she'd gathered that they weren't exactly your typical biological beings. But they were... _oozing_ quite a lot, and she was used to head wounds and unconsciousness being direly serious in most physical creatures. 'Holding us together' was equally concerning. It was hard to reconcile all of that with 'fine,' or with a certainty that Elk would wake.

Nothing for it right now, though. As during all the rest of this nonsense, she'd just have to trust them. She nodded Linast towards the door, and he slipped through for a moment before returning to gesture her in, apparently deeming it safe. She entered and took a look at their new surroundings. "Alright. Where are we heading?"

They took a second to respond - "Down the hallway, second left. There's a hidden door in the room there, you can take the steps to reach the second floor atrium. There are windows to the outside, so we'll be able to see if anything's coming..."

They shifted. "Oh, and... don't worry about Uoma, the smaller jellies. They just... linger. Even if they hardly remember why they're here..."

“Okay,” Linast said. He set off ahead down the path they had indicated, continuing the practice of walking ahead of her and keeping an eye out for potential threats. It wasn’t their normal procedure, but then Phosa wasn’t normally the one carrying something vulnerable.

He’d already been looking wan and faintly shaky around the edges outside of the Archive. Phosa frowned as that was replaced with an entirely different sort of shakiness, her sibling twitching at every fresh flash from a nearby Uoma. She couldn’t see his expression from behind, but she could see that their core had disappeared beneath shadows much deeper than Linast would normally bother with even when he wasn’t overtired.

“Are the Uoma safe to touch?” she asked Wiki, as she paused outside the first room they’d described while Linast checked it. “Or are they explosive or aggressive, too?”

They hummed. "I wouldn't recommend touching them, as they can give an electrical discharge. The young ones," they gestured to the small green jellies wiggling about, "are harmless, however. And luckily, they are not explosive. At the slightest damage, they will perish." 

"Yeah, I can... see the electricity." Nice to know were passive and non-explosive, at least. Phosa might... try to shuffle them to other parts of the Archives, if there were any in the atrium. She doubted Linast would agree to rest with them anywhere nearby, and she didn't particularly relish the prospect, herself.

"They, with the Ooma... helped keep the Archives running, back then..."

Phosa frowned as Wiki trailed off, and gently thumbed their shoulder beneath their cloak. "Hey. You still with us?" Normally she wouldn't keep bothering them, but... 'holding us together'. She wasn't sure it was entirely safe for Wiki to drift off, right now.

"Mmm..." That was some response, at least. "Still awake. Just... concentrating on.. mm. Might go under for a bit after Elk wakes up... They're... starting to come around. Won't be long, now..."

"Alright. I'm glad to hear it." Phosa looked up as Linast returned and gestured her into the room.

"I found the door," he said, pointing it out to her with a shaky gesture as she entered. "It was closed sso it's—mostly empty up there, at least. Just the little green things."

Phosa started up the stairs, listening as Linast closed the hidden door behind them and started up after her. "I'm going to head back and see if I can safely capture one of the injured creatures," she told him, as they entered the atrium and she began to look around for a good spot to set Elk and Wiki down. "Hopefully they haven't gotten too far. I want you to stay here with these two, Wiki says Elk's starting to come around."

The atrium was a large circular room, an array of windows on either side, purple glow of the canyons filtering in. The room had a number of lamps filled with, presumably, acid - emitting a soft, diffuse glow - in between the windows, hanging from the walls. A long bench followed the wall, in addition to the circular ones surrounding an insignia that looked a lot like Wiki's likeness in the middle of the room. A winding staircase went up the side of the room to another platform, which was connected to other platforms by stairways crossing the room. A few of the smaller green Uoma milled about aimlessly.

"... This was used as a research area, in the past... They'd call out to each other across the room. The stairs were mostly for the benefit of the bugs that couldn't float."

"There used to be more ways to access it, but they began sealing entrances when the Infection began. The researchers wanted to focus on their work. Or perhaps it was in fear of those already infected..." Wiki sighed, and waved a tendril in the direction of the central benches. "We can sit here."

“I’m going to need one of you to explain this Infection business to me at some point,” Phosa said as she moved into the room to settle Elk and Wiki down on the bench they had indicated. 

She straightened up again afterwards and took a moment to look and feel around the room one last time. She checked the entrances were closed, and made sure there weren’t any of the adult Uoma hidden in back corners. She knew Linast had already checked, but...

“It’s fine,” Linast muttered, patting her shoulder as he brushed past her to sit next to Elk and Wiki. “Go—get one of the rift folk before we lose track of them, and make sure none of the others were around to follow us. I’ll get your attention if s-ssomething goes wrong.”

“...Okay. I’ll try to be quick.” Without giving herself any more time to hesitate, Phosa let her body fade and turned her attention to finding the creatures they’d left behind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you'd like to take a look at the designs we made for the extradimensional interlopers, here they are:
> 
> [Priest of Celsera](https://www.deviantart.com/ausp-ice/art/Priest-of-Celsera-811908674)  
[Celseran Hunters](https://www.deviantart.com/ausp-ice/art/Celseran-Hunters-811908684)  
[Versi](https://www.deviantart.com/ausp-ice/art/Species-Versi-811908661)


	4. Revelations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some old troubles are revealed, and new ones uncovered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We've decided to indicate telepathic communications with both italics and asterisks! Thoughts and emphasis are italicized without asterisks.
> 
> For this chapter's cover art, Auspice did the composition and character flats, while Gossy did the shading, background, and effects! The other artwork in the chapter is by Auspice.
> 
> Auspice: Elk and Wiki ([@elk-and-thearchivist](https://elk-and-thearchivist.tumblr.com/))  
Gossy: Linast and Phosa ([@justashadetalkative](https://justashadetalkative.tumblr.com/))

* * *

The first thing they became aware of was a deep-rooted pain, piercing through their void. They twitched, jerking from the sudden realization of pain. What... had happened?

They remembered... the creatures, and then - _ the Ooma _. The memory of the spot of orange speeding towards them, and light, and sound, and a crack—

*_ Oh... you're awake... that's good... _ * Wiki's thoughts filtered into theirs. * _ I... need you to focus. We're safe now, so... _*

Too exhausted to properly respond, they gathered their presence of mind and sunk into the feeling of soul coursing through their body. They could feel the cracks in their mask seal slowly, until they were completely gone. All the remained was an immense exhaustion, mirrored in Wiki.

*_ Ah... good... I'm going to rest a bit. You may want to talk to Linast... _* Their memories of what had happened up to that point flashed through Elk's mind, before Wiki completely sunk into oblivion.

Elk shook their head lightly, gradually becoming aware of their surroundings. A light pressure against their shoulder abruptly disappeared. “S-sorry, ssorry, just didn’t want you to fall off—”

As their vision cleared, Linast’s face came into focus from where he had leaned worriedly over them. His eyes darted across their mask, taking in their newly fused shell with evident relief and a faint smile. “Well, you’re looking a lot better anyway—are you awake?”

They perked up a bit at the sight of Linast, trying to speak- before recalling that Wiki was asleep. Right. They settled for an exhausted wave.

Linast’s smile widened. “Hey. I’m really glad you’re back.”

Elk nodded, before gesturing to Linast. Was he alright?

His brow furrowed in confusion for a moment, then his expression cleared.

“...What—me?” Linast snorted, or something like it, a staticky scoffing noise emanating from his chest. “I’m not the one that just got blown up. I’m fine.” Linast stayed leaned above them for a moment longer, seeming to check them over for damage again, and then he finally straightened up. “I’m... s̷̡s͘orry that happened. I—I told you that I wouldn’t... let you get hurt.”

They immediately shook their head, reaching forward and patting Linast on his arm. It wasn't as if he could control whether they got hurt or not. They were just careless, and they panicked when they had to- when they had to fight back.

They froze at the memory, the creature shooting towards them—

“—okay? Ssshit. Ah... Elk, hey, you’re okay. I’m okay, too. I—well, I think Wiki’s asleep, because—you’re not making sssounds, anymore, again, and I—think you s-said you share a voice?” Linast peered at Elk, looking worried again. There was a steady tapping noise on the bench near their head, a quiet counterpoint to his rambling. “But—I’m guessing they’re okay, too. We’re... in the atrium of the, of the Archives. Not... wherever you’re at. Or maybe you’re still hurt? Um...”

Pulled back to the present, they lifted their head to look at Linast. Focus, focus. They took a moment to process his words, and—at times like these, it was _ very _ frustrating to be unable to speak. And be unable to make expressions, but they never were able to, anyways.

They patted Linast's arm to draw his attention again. Linast straightened, giving them a questioning glance. Elk huffed voicelessly. How to communicate... They covered the "mouth" area of their mask, nodding. Yes, Wiki's asleep so they can't talk. They then patted their mask. No cracks left! Luckily. Soul is a wonderful thing.

Some of the worried tension drained from Linast's shoulders as he watched their charades. It looks like they got their point across, luckily.

Elk stiffened, suddenly—Phosa! How much time had passed? They pointed to Linast's core, then pointed to the room's entrance, tilting their head in silent question.

The elemental frowned thoughtfully, his gaze following their gesture to the entrance.

“Oh—Phosa, right? Ah, yeah, she just left to try to, to capture one of the—the rift people that were chasing us. While they’re hurt.” Linast shrugged. Reaching up, he drummed his fingers against his core in a steady rhythm that produced the same tapping noise as before. “I don’t know how long she’ll be gone, but... I’m not worried yet.”

Elk nodded. Linast would know Phosa's limits, they'll trust him on this one. Even if _ they _ were still a little worried.

They slouched on the bench bonelessly, breathing out a quiet breath of air as they turned their head to stare blankly at the ceiling. Absentmindedly, they put a hand on their shell. Even if they were fine now, if Wiki hadn't been there - they doubted it would have remained intact. They shivered at the thought. They've never had their shell completely broken, but they doubted it would be anything good.

Linast watched them, and his tapping quieted as he curled his fingertips and instead began to pull at one of the many whorled ridges on the surface of his core.

“...that was close, wasn’t it?” he asked, his voice subdued. “Wiki kept saying you—_ would _ be fine, once you woke up, but that’s only because you can heal so quickly. You were in danger until you did.”

Elk shifted, wrapping their arms around themself before giving another nod. Not so mention that they were lucky they had just gone to the spring - if they didn't have enough soul, they would really be in trouble.

If they had just- been more careful, or if they were faster, or if they weren't _ so afraid of attacking attacking anything _ \- Wiki had been the one to strike, and it still sparked the dread coursing through their body. Why couldn't they _ do _ anything? They were weak. They were always weak. It's why they were thrown away-

They didn't notice as their grip on themself became tighter, as they curled further into themself.

“...hey, no, it’s—it’s okay. You’re okay now, yeah? You got out of there. And we’ll—we’ll be more careful.” A light pressure settled around Elk’s shoulders, with an odd, fluttery insolidity to it. But it soon firmed into a proper hug as Linast gently tucked them against his side. His touch and voice were… grounding, drawing them out of their turbulent thoughts. They focused on his words as he continued. “I didn’t mean to... hm. How did... Phosa do this, when...”

Linast fell silent for a moment, and then he shifted, gesturing to get their attention. “Hey, I’m gonna try something. You don’t... have to talk, if you don’t want to, we can—we can definitely just ss-sit here, that’s fine. You—it’d probably be good to rest, you look... exhausted. But, uh.”

Gesturing again, Linast set a pale, shadowy symbol hovering in the air within easy touching distance in front of Elk. “Are you s-sscared that you got that hurt?” Another gesture, and Linast set up a second, different symbol, and pointed to it. “Or is it... like before, when—when you felt like you should be able to fight?”

Linast hummed, then sighed. “...s-ssorry, I haven’t known you that long. Ah...” A third symbol. “Or is it neither of those, and I should—keep guessing?” He hummed again, clearly still thinking. Then he twitched slightly, and his arm loosened from around their shoulders. He made a fourth symbol. “Sshit, and, ah—do you want me to keep hugging you? Ssorry, I—I should have asked before I, before I did.”

Elk lightly grabbed his arm, immediately pointing to the fourth symbol. It was... nice. Somehow, they felt safer. Better.

They took another moment, leaning into his side, before looking at the other symbols. Sure, they were scared by the prospect of death, so they pointed to first and shook their hand in what they hope would be understood as a "kind of" gesture. But the real issue was probably...

They pointed to the second symbol, squeezing Linast's arm slightly.

Linast sighed, a soft rush of static as Elk gestured to the relevant symbols. He gave them a gentle squeeze in return, as if trying to steady them by the pressure alone.

“Okay. Well, first off, like I s-said, you’re okay now. And I’m really glad you are. And we’re gonna be more careful. For... the rest? I... know I rambled a bit, before, when this came up. I might not have made a lot of s-sense,” Linast admitted, and grimaced. “Sorry about that. It’s. I just... I kind of know how you feel? And I—well, like I ssaid, I’ve learned that... trying to just force myself into things doesn’t. Doesn’t _ work _. Even if we want it to.”

Elk squeezed Linast's arm a bit tighter at that. Linast sighed again, and hunched into himself a bit. He’d started tapping at his core again with his free hand, the rhythm more agitated than before, not entirely steady.

“Knowing that doesn’t... actually help much, though, does it?” Linast continued. He sounded a bit bitter. “Almost the opposite, sometimes, right? It s-sseems like it just—means the obvious fix is... futile. It still feels like—like ss-something’s _ wrong _ with you, and you’re just not strong enough to will it away. It feels like it should be so ssimple, but here you are and you—you can’t _ do it _. You keep failing.”

They looked away and nodded. It was _ hard _, knowing you were made to be something, meant to do something, and knowing that you could not. But more than that, it was the thought that... if you couldn't do what you were meant to do, could you do anything at all?

A drop of void slid out of their eye.

Linast shuddered just slightly, with a quiet hiss. Then some of the tension drained back out of him and the hiss turned into a hum, soft and soothing. He reached down with his free hand to brush away the drop of void on their mask, then patted their hand on his arm.

“...okay,” he said, after a bit of a pause. “Can I... ask why being able to fight is ss-so important to you? I know... that you were s-saying it’d be useful, earlier. But, I mean. It’s—nnot everyday you get... other dimensional people invading and, and trying to hunt you. That’s, uh, that’s kind of on us. And... you’ve been doing pretty well, with Wiki, yeah? Exploring and things. You’re really good at avoiding those—husks, c-ccertainly. But it... ssounded like it was a thing you and Wiki had talked about, before.”

Linast started up his hum again, thinking for a minute. Then he set up a new array of symbols, pointing to each in turn. “You don’t want to talk about it at all. You want to wait until Wiki’s awake. You want me to try to help you answer like this. You want to keep talking but don’t want to answer that question.”

They wrapped their arms around him, burying themself in Linast's embrace - a balm to their distress. But before long, they hesitantly lifted a hand.

They... weren't sure. But maybe. Linast could help. He was nice...

They pointed to the second. If they were going to share, they might as well go all the way.

“Wait for Wiki? Okay. We can definitely do that.” Linast let out a slow sigh, shivering again, and tightened his arm around them for a moment. “Do you need to sleep, too? I can keep watch for a while.”

They gave another squeeze. If only they could speak to express their gratitude. Some rest sounded very good right about now....

They nodded, settling into a comfortable position against Linast before drawing themself inwards.

Linast kept his arm around Elk, humming softly at times; perhaps in thought, perhaps still attempting to soothe them. Regardless, he sat still with them until they'd fallen completely asleep.

* * *

Wiki snapped to awareness, like being suddenly pulled from a dream. Or, like they were already awake and suddenly became aware of it. Where were they...?

Ah! The Archives, yes. Elk seemed to have fallen asleep, but was stirring at the presence of Wiki. They became aware of a presence at their side - Linast?

The elemental sat curled next to Elk, one arm wrapped loosely around them. His other hand pressed against his core, his fingers digging into the ridges that lined its surface.

He looked paler than normal; only the shadows supporting his core and those in his arms at their various tasks seemed to have any substance to them. And even that seemed lessened, and drifted faintly at the edges like so much smoke.

Wiki ran through Elk's memories—ah. They were glad he could reassure Elk. The vessel often felt inadequate, despite all the evidence otherwise. Wiki gave a soft sigh before they emerged from Elk, turning to face the other inhabitant of the bench. "Linast?"

Linast shifted, sitting up a bit to look at them. “Hey, Wiki.” Then he twitched, seeming to register them properly. He straightened up the rest of the way and his body darkened again, some of the loose edges pulling back together as he offered them a tired smile. “Wiki! Hey. Glad to—I’m glad you’re awake, again. You ffeeling okay?”

"Indeed I am. Some rest certainly did me some good."

Linast’s smile widened slightly. “I’m glad.”

Wiki drew closer to him, observing his form. "Was that normal? Just now. You seemed a little more insubstantial than usual."

Linast shrugged, glancing down at Elk for a moment as if checking they were still there. “Oh, ah—yeah, I’m just... tired. Getting a bit harder to, um... words… _ multitask _, is all. Just... distracted. Keeping watch, looking out rather than being… here.”

"Ahh... Very understandable. Thank you - at least we have a brief respite for now." They turned to look at Elk. "I'm grateful you could be there for Elk. I wish I could assuage their worries, but—"

"I know you're doing your best. I'm just... me." Elk, now awake, rolled over to look at Linast. "But, now that I can say it..." they embraced him. "_ Thank you _."

Linast huffed, returning the hug. “I just... rambled at you for a while,” he protested, resting his forehead on theirs for a moment. He kept a hand on their shoulder when he straightened again, seeming disinclined to break contact completely.

“But—I’m glad that talking, ah, helped. It can be... nice to know s-ssomeone understands how you feel, at least, s-sometimes. I take it I wasn’t… wasn’t too far off mark.”

"... You were pretty much on it." Elk shifted on the bench. "So... did you... want to know...?"

Wiki laid a tendril on Elk's head. "If you'd prefer... I can show you the memory. It's easier in some ways. But maybe harder in others. I can also simply explain, Elk, if you do not wish to."

Linast hesitated, looking conflicted. “I don’t... mm.” He sagged, tension draining all at once, and the hand on his chest flexed restlessly. “I’m, ah. I don’t mean it... personally. But I’ve... had enough of, ah, telepaths putting—putting experiences in my head. S-sometimes I’m not even sure if it’s _ me _ reacting to s-ssomething, anymore, or if it’s just... leftovers from what’s been shared. Sorry. I know it’d be easier.”

Wiki nodded. "Ah... of course. I understand."

"Mind things can be uncomfortable," Elk continued. "We're just so used to the convenience of sharing thoughts..."

Linast fell silent for a moment, staring off into space, then shook his head. “I... yeah. Anyway. I mean. Either of you telling me would... help me understand, at least. If you—ss-still want to talk about it.”

Elk fidgeted with their hands for a moment, before grasping them and putting them in their lap. "I... I want to say it."

Wiki closed their eyes and gave a reassuring pat. "I'm here. Linast is here. Take as long as you need."

Linast made a soft noise of assent, giving their shoulder a squeeze. “Yep. You’re s-ssafe here, and we’re listening.”

They sighed, taking a moment, before looking up at nothing in particular. "He created us. Thousands? Millions? All for the sake of finding one perfect vessel. One pure vessel." Their gaze slid down. "We were all brought to the palace. Put through 'trials.' Tested."

They fidgeted with their hands. "We were taught how to fight. Trained to be knights - potentially."

Gaze sliding left. "At that time, I didn't know anything. I didn't really feel anything, either. We weren't supposed to. We all did as we were told. I did as I was told.

And... I was told to fight another like me. Unlike the other fights, they didn't tell us to stop. That meant we kept going.

I..." They looked down. "When they hit me, I struck back, cracking their shell. I hesitated. I didn't know. They told me to keep going. I struck them again. Isn't this when they made us stop? My nail was covered in the void of my sibling. They told me to keep going. Until their shell broke. I looked into their eyes, moments before they vanished. I realized what I'd done. I threw my nail away from me. They gave it back. Told me to fight again. I shook my head. Insisted. I swiped my nail at them - and then _ he _ came."

They clenched a fist in their cloak. "'This one is a failure. Dispose of it.'"

Linast hissed, slow and cold. His fingers twitched on Elk’s shoulder, and he closed his eyes, his form flickering unsteadily. He managed to calm himself before long, though. He opened his eyes again and looped his free arm around Elk in another hug. “And... hhow did they... try to get rid of you?”

Elk looked up at the ceiling. "They told me to come with them somewhere. I... didn't want to, but I didn't know what to do but obey. One of the... caretakers. Brought me and the shell of the one I..." They looked away. Wiki squeezed Elk tightly around the shoulders, reassuring.

"We walked deeper into the basin. It was completely silent. We reached a door. Beyond it... I felt... it felt so familiar.

"We walked into the door. Beyond it was an endless darkness—and I know now—that was where _ he _ took us from in the first place. It called to me then...

"I did nothing as she walked to the edge of the abyss.

"She tossed my sibling first, and I slowly realized what was happening. She picked me up, and I began to struggle. I took her nail and struck her. She stumbled, letting me go—and we both fell into the endless chasm."

They looked up again. "It's... a big blank after that. I don't know how much time I spent there."

Linast’s form flickered again in a full-body shiver; the pressure of his hand atop Elk’s shoulder faded and reformed. He was quiet for a long moment, staring off into space.

“That’s... ah. Well. A pretty complicated introduction to ffighting,” he said, eventually. “I’m—I’m nnot s-surprised you... freeze, when... you think you might have to, again. Those are ssome pretty bad memories, to be reminded of. Easy to wonder if things... will go that badly, again.”

Linast’s fingers on his core flexed, and he shook his head lightly, turning to look down at Elk. “But... you... sstill feel like it’s a thing you should be able to do.”

Elk flinched, nodding. "It's... useful to be able to defend yourself. We're good at running," they gave a light huff of a laugh, "but running can only do so much. And... you can never stop."

They fell silent for a moment. "Even if I could just. Fend off things on my own. That would be good... But... Every time I move to attack, I think of inky void on my nail, looking into the blank eyes of my sibling, of falling, falling."

Linast hummed. “Fflashbacks s-suck,” he said quietly. “Especially when... you get them when you really need to be thinking clearly. When there actually _ is _ danger. Half the... half of the techniques for dealing with them normally involve telling yourself you’re ssafe, now.” He let out a humorless laugh.

Elk gave a huff at that. "Yeah—I'm. Pretty _ in danger _ whenever that happens. Wiki usually takes over when my limbs feel weighed down by lead."

Wiki nodded. "I don't particularly mind fighting, myself. I'm just rather... weak." They climbed onto the bench next to Elk, opposite of Linast. "There's nothing wrong with avoiding danger. We've done pretty well with that, haven't we?"

"Th.. that's..." They looked at their hands. "I guess... except for this time."

“To... be ffair,” Linast offered. “The, ah. The Sspire’s... pretty cursed. We s-seem to bring danger pretty much everywhere.” He made a huffing noise. “I doubt you’re nnnormally triggering those... jellyfish things—Ooma—on _ purpose _.”

Wiki snorted. "That's true."

He shook his head again, and directed a mild frown at Elk. “But... mm. There are—there are things you can do, to help with the... with the flashbacks. I can try to help, if... if there’s time, and if you want me to. But.” Linast paused and closed his eyes, apparently gathering his thoughts.

After a minute he shook his head, opening his eyes to give Elk a pointed look. “You... before. I asked—why being able to f-fight was, was important to you. And you didn’t... you didn’t s-ssay you don’t feel ssafe, traveling with Wiki, or that you’re... tired of always having to run. You’re only s-saying that _ now _. You... you told me about what happened, first. What you were asked to do. What your creator ssaid.”

Linast let out a quiet hiss, looking away from them to stare out the atrium’s windows. “You told me that you wouldn’t ffight when they asked, and that they threw you away.“

They cringed. "That's... probably... the crux of it. I..." They took a breath, letting it out slowly. "I don't want to feel this way. I don't want _ him _ to take so much of my mind, when he made us to have none." They looked up at Linast. "If... There's anything you know about how to deal with this. I'd... be grateful."

Linast made a sighing sound, shivering again. “...mm. It’s... I’ll nneed to... think, f-for a while, I think,” he admitted. “Trauma ssshit’s... complicated. Can’t undo it in a day. And I’m... sstill working out a lot of my own s-stuff, I don’t... I _ really _ don’t have all the answers. Words aren’t. Words aren’t s-sso great, right nnow, either.”

Linast looked back down from the windows, meeting Elk’s gaze. “But... For now, and... for what it’s worth. What I’m hearing is that... the ffirst choice you _ ever _ made, the _ first _ thing you—you chose to do without being—no, _ despite _ being told... was to refuse to murder another one of your siblings. Literally the ffirst time you saw death up close, right, and you—you decided you didn’t want to make more of it. Even though you were being told it was good, that it was what you were... _ s-supposed _ to do.” 

He leaned into them slightly, a careful bump on the shoulder. “That doesn’t ssound like a failure to me. _ I _ think it’s—admirable. I think it’s _ amazing _.”

Linast leaned back away from them, dropping his suddenly distinctly clawed hand to the bench and gripping it tightly. He shuddered a bit, and the hand at his chest tightened as well. “Your creator, on the other hhand, was a fffucking _ f-fool _ ,” he added in a low, furious hiss. “Even—even _ more _ of one than most people who, who _ make _ people like that, make them to try to get a job done. And that’s _ s͟-ss҉a͠yi͝n̢g̛ ͞somethi͏ng _.”

Wiki felt an overwhelming surge of gratitude from Elk - it nearly brought tears to their own own eyes.

Elk suddenly wrapped their arms around Linast, squeezing tightly. "Th... thank you... more than you know. I'm... I'm feeling a lot better already. Take all the time you need. And," they pulled back a bit, "if _ you _ ever want to talk about what plagues your mind... We'll be glad to listen, if you think it would help."

Wiki brushed a tendril across Elk's shell, before facing Linast. "Yes... You've done plenty for us. Please, rest now. Gather your thoughts. We will watch."

Linast twitched rather badly at Elk’s hug, his form flickering and nearly phasing through them at first. But he leaned into them after a moment, his free hand lifting from the bench to pat at their arm. “...I’m glad. I will.”

Wiki watched the two embrace, a warmth filling their mind. Their thoughts drew away from them, and they stilled. "Is Phosa still out? How long have we..."

Linast blinked, looking up at them. “Hm? Um, nno, sshe’s not back. It’s been... I mean, we’ve been talking f-ffor. For a while? Right?” Linast frowned, starting to look more agitated. His posture tensed again, unhappy spikes lifting up across his shoulders as he tugged fretfully at the ridges of his core. “I... I don’t know how long you were asleep, though? I don’t...”

With a soft scree-click, Linast’s fingers cut through the ridge of his core that they’d been gripping and came to rest on the next one down. Both Elk and Wiki startled—the former giving a small squeak.

Linast flinched and gave a soft hiss of pain, some of his tension draining away with the distraction. He lifted his hand and looked down in what seemed like genuine surprise at the damage he’d just done. “...ow.”

"Oh— oh dear. Linast, are you quite alright? You seem....... tense, to say the least." Wiki hovered a few tendrils near him, hesitant to go closer.

“I’m... I’m... tired?” Linast trailed off, seeming uncertain about the statement. He pressed a carefully closed fist over the scratches on his core. “I... always get, get a bit... twitchy. Bitey? Light pain... does that. When I can’t com... disss... Mm. _ Ignore _ it, anymore. And it’s... Elk was hurt. Your creator’s horrible. _ Phosa _ ... I shouldn’t have—I shouldn’t have lossst track of _ time _ like that.” The elemental hunched into himself, his expression tight and unhappy. “But I’ve been... better. At nnnot—scratching us. I didn't mean to...”

"That doesn't sound good," Wiki murmured. "I... I'm not aware of how much time had passed, but considering the state we were in, I'd expect a few hours at least."

He shivered convulsively, looking out the atrium window. “...That's too long. Phosa would have at least... checked in. And sshe would have felt—that, jusst now.”

Elk leaned back, nervously clenching their hands. "Ah-hh, I should have let you rest... Sorry if I've... made it worse..."

“I’m used to it,” Linast said, a bit distantly. “S_ ssomeone _ had to keep watch.”

Elk curled up slightly. _ That's true _ … _ still… _

Wiki laid a comforting tendril on Elk's back, before narrowing their eyes at a corner of the atrium. "... This is concerning, though. I—we—the creatures. There... might be something we didn't expect. They're certainly harder to kill than most things around here... They might..." They blinked a few times, a faint memory at the edge of their mind. Was it a memory? They've never seen the creatures before, though... Have they? They shook their head. Focus. "Linast, is it possible for you to communicate with Phosa at the moment?"

Linast roused as Wiki said his name, and looked away from the window to refocus on them.

“Nno, not... really. We can’t—we can’t sshare thoughts, like you. We... _ sometimes _ get... emotions. But it’s more like we... mm. Words. It’s more like we _ influence _ each other’s moods than, than even being able to tell it’s nnot—ours.” Linast hummed, closing his eyes as if trying to think.

“We can—fffind each other? And—ssome physical stuff. If we’re awake or nnot, have enough—enough energy or are too tired, if we’re using a lot of magic or nnot. Pain, if it’s... in our core.” His hand tilted as he ran a thumb across the new notches in their core. “...n-nnormally.”

Elk shot a worried look to Wiki—well, shooting a look with feelings of worry. "You should rest. Does your core heal over time? The atrium should be safe... If they haven't found us yet, I doubt they'll find us at all."

Wiki hummed. "If you know where Phosa is, we can go out to search for her. Now that we're rested, we'll probably be fine on our own..."

Linast barked out a laugh. “—sssorry, ssorry, it’s just. I mean.” He gestured vaguely out the atrium windows. “Ssshe’s—that way. Outsside my—my range, right nnow, so I can’t even... tell you exactly how f-ffar.”

He shook his head, and drummed his fingers against their core. “..._ you _ might... be... able to contact her? Just because—just because _ I’m _ not in her head doesn’t mean ssshe isn’t... isn’t _ here _, in part.” Linast shivered, his voice going a bit thin. “Sssomething’s... definitely nnot right. Now that I’m... paying attention. I—we—sshe, maybe. Kinda want to kill s-something.”

"Wh—"

"_ Kill something? _ That doesn't sound good. Whether something's aggravated her to that point, or if something is influencing her..." Wiki brought a tendril to their chin. "I... I could try. If you're alright with it. It may be intrusive—probing a mind is more active than mere communication..."

Linast closed his eyes and gave a stressed, unhappy hum. “I... I know. You did the... the language thing, earlier...” He shook his head, and made a visible effort to relax. “...I do trusst you, though. And I—I don’t like this. S-sssomething’s _ wrong _. I want to—to know what ssshe’s doing, before we... jump into things.”

"Alright. Very well. Elk, just in case..."

Elk nodded, and Wiki completely removed themself from their body before approaching Linast. "Your core would likely offer a stronger connection. But if you'd like, I can try to reach her through contact with your magic first."

Linast hesitated, then shook his head and pulled his core from his chest. “I think I should... ss-stop concentrating. Ffor at—at least a bit. I’m—having enough issues that it... might be dissstracting to you. And... you’re right, our core’s likely... going to work better.”

He set his core on the bench, and directed a tense frown at Wiki. “...Be careful? If—if s-something _ is _... influencing her. Us. Or if sshe’s hurt and it—bleeds through. Don’t... mm. Just be careful.”

Wiki inclined their head. "Understandable. I shall do my best." They extended a few tendrils to the core, avoiding the scratches as they wrapped around it.

Closing their eyes, they focused their mind into the core. The world fell away as they drew their mind deeper, probing for other presences.

Linast’s mind was scattered.

Some of that felt familiar to Wiki. Linast’s mind might be centered in his core, but pouring the majority of his attention outward into his shadowform created something of a disconnect. And while the injuries to his core during their previous contact with him had pained him considerably, he’d seemed able to push that pain to the back of his mind unusually well; another careful compartmentalization.

But now, Linast’s attention drifted in all directions in a much less controlled fashion. And even as he let his tenuous hold on his shadowform fade, removing both the sting of light upon it and any need to force his focus outwards, he still struggled to gather his thoughts. The burn of light exposure seemed to echo disruptively through his mind even though he’d released his magic.

Wiki’s initial probings did not reveal any immediately obvious presences other than Linast. But as they pressed deeper, something that could only be described as _ bright _ drew their attention. Pursuing it lead to an area of the core that seemed like it would be accessible enough to Wiki, but which Linast’s mind refused to even acknowledge beyond a few faint tendrils of connection.

One of these connections was a nagging, directionless desire to hunt. That seemed relevant. Wiki drew closer.

They found... Phosa’s awareness, in the same way that one could be said to be aware of one’s body. It _ should _ have been a simple enough connection to follow to the rest of her consciousness. But the majority of her mind felt distant and well beyond Wiki’s reach, somehow.

Much more present was a searing light that Wiki could tell at once was _ not _ Phosa, now that they felt it more directly. It jarred against what little of her mind was here with a grating feedback that kept it from meshing with her fully. And it was _ hungry _.

Wiki jerked, instinctively shielding their mind from the light. A sense of dread sunk into them—Phosa was under the influence of something far more powerful than they'd imagined.

They attempted to quarantine the presence interlocked with Phosa, constructing mental barriers of void—Linast was probably being affected as well. Hopefully they'll last... it's a good thing that Void was born to oppose light.

That done, they turned to the blinding light in the core. Phosa seemed so far away, but perhaps... They tried to weave their way towards her presence, seeking gaps in the other light's influence. *_ Phosa _ — _ ?* _

Wiki felt some reaction from her, nonlinguistic and distant as it was. A twitch, a sudden uncertain hope—and then the feedback of the other light’s incompatibility with Phosa rose in a screech all around them. Their mind echoed with it, ringing, drifting.

Where had they...

They were—they _ are _...

… They are... at the bottom of a dark cavern that stretches upward beyond the edges of their sight. Strands of webbing cross through it at irregular intervals, and large, hulking spheres hang suspended-

—They are a part of the center of a field of death, the corpses of some alien species piled high and arranged in careful patterns stretching into the distance. They reach to the seeds of flame they’ve planted within each body and begin to burn each to ash. The ground splits beneath the heat and begins to collapse downwards into their grasp, and the widening fissure spills their light up into the sky-

— They are in front of Linast, who sits half-formed as a simple torso hovering above a pool of shadow around his core. But it’s Phosa who’s speaking, for all that she’s little more than a thin sheen of light around the core at the center of her sibling’s protective hovering. “That’s right,” she says. She sounds tired and dazed but she’s recovering quickly, her voice gaining some momentum. "We’d been... we were going to Deepnest, right? That was... that was the plan—"

— They are reaching out through their disciples’ touch. They capture the flame of life as it begins to gutter out beneath their fingers and they make it their own-

—But none of that makes... sense. Does it?

They are... shifting through silken records- No, they were… cutting at the creature that had grabbed at Elk- No, that wasn’t right.

They were... holding Elk together—no. They were... no.

...

What were they doing...?

Something tugged at the edge of their mind. Another presence, someone else...

"Ma'am?"

They turned to look at the bug that had just entered the room, carrying some records. He seemed to be some kind of pill bug, cloth tied upon his head. "I got what you asked—"

That wasn't right. The presence was stronger now, insistent.

Something broke their seal. Consciousness rushed towards them, like a flood, and they looked into hollow eyes—

Wiki blinked. The glow of acid filled the bronze of the room, purple light diffusing through the windows. Elk stood in front of them, grabbing a tendril.

*_ Wiki? Can you hear me? Are you alright? _*

They blinked again. "I..." They looked at their surroundings. The glasslike core was next to them - they must have let go of it. Luckily, they hadn't lifted it from the bench, so it didn't look like any further damage was done.

That's right. They were trying to reach Phosa through the core, and then…

"Ugh..." They pressed a tendril to their face. What was it they saw? Certainly, some of it was in the past, yet... They'd never been to some of those places, and the visions of light...

They stiffened. "Elk— Phosa is, she's under the influence of another entity. A powerful being, something like light... But it's not... The old light. Something different... We have to. We need to find her-"

*_ Wiki, wait! You've been out of it for a while, are you sure you're alright? _* Elk gripped their tendril more tightly.

"I'm fine now. I'm not sure what just... it might have been an effect of making mental contact with the entity. But I... it's not the first time something like this has happened, just not to this degree. I... I'll think about it later."

They turned back to the core. "l hate to trouble Linast again, but I need to let him know. We might be able to carry him to let him rest, but." They reached towards the core—

Elk snatched them back, locking gazes with them. *_ You're sure it's fine?_*

*_ Of course. _ * "I quarantined the light. It should last, at least for a bit." With that, they turned back to the core, one tendril making contact with the surface. * _ Linast? _*

It took a moment, but Linast roused soon enough. It seemed he’d fallen asleep—a realization that sparked enough alarm from him to echo through the connection Wiki had established.

A layer of darkness pulled up around the core. A moment later Linast had reformed and quickly looked around the room, taking in Wiki, Elk, and the empty atrium. Only once he’d checked his surroundings did he relax, pressing a hand up against his core with a grimace.

“_ Shit _ . I’m sorry, I—for some reason it got _ harder _ to think when I s-stopped manifesting, I’m not sure what...” Shaking his head, Linast refocused on Wiki. “Are you okay? Were you able to contact her?” His expression creased with worry. “I… I can’t feel her as well as before.”

Wiki shook their head. "Not... exactly. She's... under the influence of a powerful entity of light. It doesn't seem compatible with her own light, but... it's overpowering her will, it seems." Their tendrils curled in anxiety. "I've constructed a few mental barriers to isolate you from being influenced by the entity. Unfortunately, with how entangled Phosa is right now, that means it's also a divide between you and her."

"It also sort of put Wiki in a daze for a bit," Elk spoke up—the contact they had with Wiki seemed to be sufficient to speak. They were sitting on the bench, eyes downcast and hands gripping the seat tightly. "Whatever... _ influence _," they grinded out the word with clear displeasure, "is happening, it seems powerful enough to affect us beings of Void, as well."

Linast hunched into himself, his arms folded around his chest. “I... I _ hate _ that things can be _ that wrong _ without me even noticing for so long,” he muttered, and ran a shaky hand down his face. “We need to... I... fuck.”

Wiki hummed, troubled. . "I... saw a few things. Some of them I recall—they occurred in the past—but... some were not. I was... in places I haven't been. Visions of... light. The entity's light, I think...? I saw you and Phosa as well, for just a moment, but... it was so strange. Like an odd dream."

Linast glanced from Elk’s tense posture to Wiki, scanning them over. “...an odd dream. Did it feel like that _ in the moment _, or only now? If it can mess with perceptions...”

"I... Hmm." The tapped their chin. "It felt real, then. Like I was there. Only now do I feel that it was oddly out of place. Disjointed. Then again..." They hummed in thought. "I have... had similar situations... I think? None so forceful. None jumping from place to place like just now. But... flashbacks that felt so real... things that I've never seen before. I assumed it was from the memories buried in my mind..."

Linast frowned as he watched Wiki think. “Maybe... but... Phosa and I definitely haven’t met you, before.” He shivered slightly. “We’re—pretty young, for sstarters. And we’ve got—a few muddled memories of our own, me more than Phosa, but we know what was happening during them. We either wouldn’t have been recognizable, or wouldn’t have been... coherent.”

Linast pushed himself to his feet. He wavered unsteadily for a moment but quickly found his balance again and began to pace, fingers tapping at his core. “...whatever happened, whether—whether that thing did it to you or not, I need to go find Phosa. You... you ssaid it wasn’t compatible with her. Maybe she’ll be able to fight it off once she’s not projecting s-so far, or... I don’t know. I need to try, though. And... we need to try to seal these things off as s-soon as possible. Apparently we keep managing to—underestimate them. But we still haven’t heard from the Spire...”

"I—" Wiki paused. "You're right. I don't have enough data, and we have more pressing matters." They rose from where they were seated.

"No word..." Elk muttered. "That doesn't sound good."

"Looks like we'll stick with our original plan." Linast tilted his head towards them as he continued to pace—right, he wasn't there at that time. "You mentioned sealing; we'd planned to go to Deepnest, in the far reaches of this kingdom." The elemental nodded as Wiki continued their explanation. "The Weavers there are rumored to be masters in weaving seals and spells. We were discussing it with Phosa before we were... well. Interrupted. We'll go there once we retrieve her..."

"Oh, and—" Elk jumped up from their seat, "If it helps, you can rest while we seek her out. We might need a bit of directional help, but we'll be able to carry your core."

"In our void is most convenient, but we certainly have enough limbs to carry you ourselves."

Linast slowed to a stop and turned to look them over with a conflicted expression.

“I... I’m not going to say I don’t need your help. I _ do _ , I—I know I’m getting clumsy. And you two are more likely to be able to help Phosa with mind shit than I ever will be, anyway. Sstars, this thing might have had _ me _, ah, influenced by now too, without you. I was... I can think way more clearly now, after whatever you did.” He frowned at them, looking tense. “But... are you sure?”

Linast gestured out the atrium windows to the canyon beyond. “You don’t have to go back there,” he pointed out. “We—we sstill don’t know what they can do, or what they’ve done to Phosa—what _ she _ might try to do to _ us _ . And you had a plan, it s-sounds like. If you can get to this—Deepnest place safely on your own... well, we can travel fast, straight through walls if we need to. Let us know what direction it is and we’ll catch up. Or... nnot, but at least you two would still have a chance at getting ssome help and _ fixing _ this.“

Wiki shook their head. "Deepnest is easy to get lost in, and it's not a good place to be alone. It would be best if we were to stick together, regardless of whether we assist now. Which..."

"We will, obviously." Elk's tone held little room for argument. "We're certain."

"And... the barriers I've constructed are only temporary. It would be best if we could evict the entity from Phosa's mind entirely. Which I will certainly be able to assist with— generally speaking, void is very effective at opposing light. And I'd like to think that I am skilled in regards to mental navigation and manipulation."

Linast sagged with evident relief. For all that he’d questioned them, it was fairly obvious which answer he’d hoped that they would give. “I... Thank you. Both of you.”

He pressed a palm to his chest, glancing away. “I, uh... planning, then. Okay.” Linast hummed, closing his eyes.

“I don’t... think your void is a good idea,” he decided after some thought. “Cutting off from Phosa is never very good for her, I don’t want to try it with her projected so far away. She wouldn’t just ssnap back to our core like I would. But if you could carry us for a while, that would help, yeah. I’m, ah. Your s-springs gave us plenty of energy, but I’ve been... awake and manifested for too long. It was a long day even before we got here, and then we were hurt...”

"Very well," Wiki nodded. "We'll be careful. Just let us know where to go."

"Get some rest, alright? We don't know what'll happen once we get there." Elk gave a light pat to Linast's arm.

Linast gave Elk a weak smile at the pat. “I’ll try. Thank you.”

He glanced back up again, looking to Wiki. “She’s definitely in the—the general direction we came from, but... further away than the Ooma were, I think?” he said. “She might have moved closer to the rifts, or off down a side path, or... I don’t know. I’ll be able to tell better when we’re closer. You might be able to feel her through our core, too.”

As he spoke, Linast cupped his hands. He winced slightly as his core shifted. Much like it had when he’d teleported earlier, his core began to unspool, the intricate ridges covering its surface separating and lifting outwards.

This time, rather than fading away they curved around to reform in his hands. But they seemed to weave themselves more tightly, now. The resulting sphere was much smaller than before, small enough to fit into even Elk’s hand without too much issue. Linast passed the core over. “Careful, we’re not actually lighter. It can be—disconcerting. Might be easier to carry, though.”

Elk laughed lightly. "I'm a lot stronger than you might expect— oh, that _ is _ much heavier than it looks." They cradled the core in their hands, before looking to Wiki.

"We'll be fine. If I'm getting lost, I'll try to sense where she is from your core. Now then..." Wiki flowed into Elk, settling into the familiarity of their void. They wrapped a few tendrils around the core, keeping them under their cloak but not impeding any movement. "Let's go find Phosa."

**Author's Note:**

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